The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-05 00:00:00

MR. BRIVBST JONES'S POLITICAL
SOIREES.

Last night Mr. Ernest Jones held the second of
i his political soirees at St. Martin's Hall. There
) was a numerous attendance. The platform was
ornamented with several silk banners, containing
inscriptions which asserted the right of the working
man to participate to the full extent in the products
of his own labour.
Mr. JONES, on presenting himself, was loudly
cheered. He said that, in pursuance of his promise,
he had the pleasure of again meeting them, for the
purpose of conveying some political and social in-
struction to the public of this country, and he was
happy to be able to inform them that the hall had
been taken for the next four months. These efforts
were made with the assistance of some friends to
the spread of social and political truth, and espe-
cially of Mr. Gregory, one of the most eminent
merchants of the city of London, and the author or
an admirable work ou misrule in high places.
(Cheers.) Some portions of the press supposed that
he was pecuniarily interested in these soirees, but
he was there gratuitously, and Mr. Gregory, who
acted as the treasurer, would apply any profits that
remained after the expenses were paid to the propa-
gation of political truth. (Cheers.) Politics were
hitherto too much confined to the tavern and the
pothouse, and it was the object of the soirees to
introduce them on a more appropriate stage, and
to accompany them with musical and social recrea-
tion. (Cheers.)
The first part of the musical programme was then
proceeded with. It included the " Song of the
Day Labourers," and a " Song of Resurrection,"
two odes written by Mr. Jones, and sung by Mr.
Lowry and the other vocalists.
_ _

Mr. JONES then proceeded to deliver a discourse
On the fabric of the British Constitution," which
he desclibed to be founded in the darkness of the
middle ages, and to be one of the vilest shams and
greatest legislative curses ever inflicted on a people.
The British constitution, he said, represented two
element 3 alone, laud and money, but was mainly
founded on the monopoly of the land. From this
point of view he traced the history of the country
from the period of the Norman conquest to the
present time, and endeavoured to prove that all the
legislative enactments of the Parliament were
founded on the principle of the monopoly of the
land and a landed aristocracy. Mr. Jones thus
concluded :—As the land is the fountain of all ma-
terial blessings, so a landed aristocracy is the foun-
tain of all social curses. All others are but the
side-currents flowing out from that polluted
source. Leave the land untouched, and Heaven
itself will never grant you happiness. The land_
it is the sacred altar, whence labour, that true
worship, sends from its fields and gardens the sweet
incense most acceptable on high ; the land—it is
the safety of a people, the emerald shield that God
has given nations, to hold between themselves and
misery ; the land—it is the radiant armour that
clothes the shining limbs of liberty. My country.
men, we have been bereft of that defence. Its
glorious guard has been stripped from you, leaving
you naked, shivering to the blasts of want. Join
with me for the re-conquest of the land ; it is the
task of the age—the mission of the century. You
talk of unchaining yourselves ; unchain the land,
and your own chains will fall. The franchise is
the bond that binds your hands ; but land mono-
poly is the dungeon that surrounds your bodies.
At the conclusion of his address Mr. Jones was
much applauded.