The Sun.
London, England, 1833-05-21 00:00:00

men, know ye not, who would be free themselves must
strike the blow ?" on another was " Happy homes
and altars free ;" on another were " Cheap religion, cheap
government, cheap bread."
There were several other banners with devices, but
at too great a distance from the hustings to enable ua to
read them.
Immediately following the bands and banners came an
open carriage, in which were Mr. Attwood, Mr. O'Con-
nell, M.P., the Rev. Mr. IlltDonnell, the Catholic clergy.
man of Birmingham, Mr. Muntz, and one or two other..
The stream of persons who followed soon flowed into every
vacant space en the hill, which was in a few moments fill, d
in every part. The appearance of the meeting at the
moment, from the peculiar manner in which they stood,
owing to the amphitheatrical form of the ground, was very
imposing, and, from the mass of human beings thus
brought into such a dense mass, truly awful; we should
Suppose that there were from 70,000 to 80,000. Many
persons who were present at the last meeting (last May)
stated that the present was more numerous by many thou-
sraVds. The. great proportion of women present showed that
Ft WO 'looked upon as a sort of holyday business, and
%et no breach of the peace, or interruption of the pro-
ceedings which could lead to that result, was at all con-
templated. On this subject we may remark, that not
one man in twenty who came on the ground had
a stick of any kind ; the few there were were small com-
mon walking-sticks.
As soon as the several gentlemen already named had
taken their places on the busting., and the undulations of
the immense sea of human beings in front had subsided
into something of stillness, a bugle from the front of the
hustings called attention.
Mr. Moszrz (the Honorary Secretary to the Union),
came forward, and was about to address the meeting,when
he was interrupted by a part of the hustings having given
way. The slight confusion caused by this was soon at
an end. Some additional props were placed under the
front of the platform, and several gentlemen were induced
to leave the hustings altogether in order to lighten the
pressure, particularly in the front. For this purpose, we
believe Mr. G. Edmonds proposed, that the reporters
should go to the back part, and
Mr. O'CONNELL interposed, saying the reporters were
privileged in all meetings, and ought to have the best
accommodation which circumstances would permit. They
might as well be excluded altogether, as put into a place
where they could not bear.
The reporters were allowed to remain in their by no
means enviable position in the front.
Mr. MuNTz proceeded with his address. He congratu-
lated the friends of the people on having once more assem-
bled so large a meeting of his fellow subjects. They had
been called together to consider the capability of his
Majesty's Ministers, and to address his Majesty, praying
stn to dismiss them from his councils, for the common
good of the country. The people, he believed, bad now
lost all confidence in Ministers ; at least, he had. They
might recollect what he said when they met there about
twelve months ago. He told them to give Ministers a
chance. The meeting had done so ; and what had the
Ministers done since ?—( Here another interruption was
caused by an application for admission to the hustings by
some gentlemen who bad come a great way to attend the
meeting. Mr. Muntz said that one or two might come,
but he would not advise many, as part of the platform
had given way already. He then resumed his address.)
The Ministers had done nothing since, except to hinder
the reduction of any of the burdens of the people. He
was going to remark how circumstances had changed ;
and how the change bad affected the opinions of certain
parties as to such meetings as the present. When they
met on the 7th of May last to keep in Ministers, their
meeting was lauded by the Whig papers ; but now
the meeting wanted to get them out, they were
exposed to all kinds of abuse.—(Hear.) The people,
forsooth, must be satisfied with everything Ministers
did, whether it was to refuse to take off one tax, or to add
another to those already in existence. He would only
icier them to the violent abuse to which they were exposed
in the Times of Saturday or Friday last. He would
admit the great ability with which that paper was con—
ducted, and the great power with which, beyond all
others, she could abuse those to whom she was opposed;
but he wished she would come down a little oftner amongst
them at Birmingham (he understood she was now present)
and, powerful as she was, they would teach her better
manners.—(Cheers and laughter.) If every one cared as
little for the abuse of that journal—able as he admitted it
to be—as he did, it would not have so many readers, or
sell such numbers as it did ; yet though the people and the
friends of the people were abused in that journal, every
body read it. The Hon. Secretary then went on to in-
quire what Ministers had done since last year? Their
first effort was, like an unnatural mother who was
annoyed by the crying of her half-starved child, they half
smothered Ireland ; but, as in the case of the child, when
the blankets were removed it would cry out again, and
from the same cause—a hungry brllyr This was done by
the joint efforts of Whigs and Tories. They showed that
when they got the people down they were determined to
keep them down. But it would be said that in attack-
ing Ministers they were turning round on their friends :
he denied it. The friends of the people were those only
who assisted them when they could. Had the Whigs
done so ? He hated party feeling of any kind ; but he
would say that if he must have a choice between a Whig
and a Tory, he would prefer the latter; though he would
admit that when he got bins he should not know what to
do with him. Parliament, under the guidance of the
present Ministers, had done nothing for the people. They
had refused to inquire into the distress of the country--
to alter the corn laws—to change the money law t they
had refused to abolish taxation, or to substitute one tax
for another,—to have a property tax, because that would
he for the country gentlemen to tax themselves. He went
on to show that out of the distress of the country its own
relief would come, for from the inability of the poor to
buy corn and meat, the farmer could pay no rent, and the
landlord get no profit from his land, and then be would
force the relief of distress on the Government. After ob-
serving upon the injustice and inequality of the corn laws,
the speaker observed that the press had charged the
parties who called this meeting with having done se for
the purpose of promoting riot and drunkenness, and per-
haps the shedding of blood. Those who made that charge
did not know the men of Warwickshire of Staffordshire,
or the adjoining counties; and he hoped, indeed he was
confident, that the conduct of the meeting that day would
give the lie to such charges.
Mr. G. F. MuNTz having then taken the chair,
Mr. T. ATTWOOD came forward, amidst most tre-
mendous cheering, to address the assembled multitude.
He said that he was glad—gratified more than he could
express—in once more corning forward to address them on
that spot, where they had so often before assembled for the
effectuation of the public good, and the general good, and
where the same great and glorious object bad again called
them together in countless masses from all the surrounding
districts. He bad, he repeated, often before addressed
them from that spot when met for the promotion of those
great objects which the men of Birmingham and of the
midland districts bad, with that public virtue and pa-
triotism which so distinguished them, uniformly most at
heart—the rights and liberties of Englishmen. Such were
the objects for which they had hitherto met there, and they
were that day assembled for the same good cause.—
(Cheers.) It was with the deepest regret that he found
it necessary to come amongst them for the purpose of un-
doing that which he had with them so great a hand, in-
deed he might say the principal hand in doing, namely,
the placing the present Ministers in power.—(Cheers.)
There was no man who went into Parliament more at.
tached to his Majesty's Ministers, or more determined to
support them, than he was, conceiving that in doing so
he should be supporting those who were firmly resolved
to exert all the means wherewith power supplied them
to extend the liberties and promote the prosperity of the
country. On the first day of his entering Parliament be
was astounded and astonished at the atrocious and tre-
mendou3 measures which they proposed with regard to
unhappy Ireland; he was astounded, he repeated, to find
that men whom they (the people of Birmingham and of
the midland districts) had sent into the Government for the
purpose of confirming the liberties, and restoring the pros-
perity of the country, should, as their first measure, pro-
pose to strike a mortal blow at the liberties of Ireland.—
(Cries of " Shame !" and " We'll strike them," and
groans.) He was not the fool not to know that if such
a measure passed, a similar blow was intended and would
be levelled at the liberties of England, whenever the
proper opportunity should serve.—(Cbeers.) Horrified
and disgusted that such men should thus show themselves
to be the enemies, instead of the friends of liberty, he had
seen enough to make him lose all confidence in them ; btt.
that was not all. Before Parliament had met, he (it,lr.
Attwood) had frequent occasion to call upon his Majesty's
Ministers, and on such occasions he deemed it right to direct
their attention, confiding as lie did in the purity of their
intentions, to those duties which they had still to perform
towards rendering the people prosperous and happy. It
was for that purpose only, he told them, that he had taken
steps in procuring the passing of the Reform Bill; for
what would that Bill be without its fruit—the prosperity

of the country? He to,d them that, if not followed by
that result, it would not satisfy the people ; that they
would not take a shadow when they should receive the
substance. He told them that if they relieved the indus-
trious classes of this country of the grievous burdens that
weighed them down, and if they introduced measures