The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-02 00:00:00

r-111,

V INDIGI 4276

Under the attractive heading of €7.64l6`'•eat Inclir,-
nation Meeting;" advertisements, handbills, and
posters have been extensively cimulated within'the
last week, inviting the public to attend alneeting
in St. Martin's-hall, to unite in an expression of
indignation at some
or'
or grievance wilich,
whether of a public or private nature, domestic rr
foreign, the gentleman whose name was appended
to the advertisement and bills, Mr. Thomas Haw-
kins, did not think it necessary to afford therein
any information. The vagueness and mystery in
which the invitation was involved, coupled with
the intimation that the admission was to he free,
brought together at the appointed hour, 8 o'clock,
some 200 or 300 people, who after indulging for
some time in expressions of impatience, were re-
lieved by
Mr. HAWKINS, who came upon the platform un-
attended, and having cast aside his outer garments
with true theatrical gesture, commenced in a loud
voice to assure the people of London that he always
kept his word, and that when he was better known

heshould not have 40, or 400, but 40,000 of theta
attending his meetings. He did not come to lecture
them; they had had lecturing enough. He came
to tell them of the farce that was continually played
at Westminster, and how, they, the hobnails, were
ground down by those above them. He had searched
the shams to the bottom, and was determined to
unmask them. It was the people of the Isle of
Wight who were at the bottom of the abominable
system which he denounced and trampled under
foot. (A laugh.) His was no private wrong, He had
seen in the lions' den what they had all seen and
all suffered, but not one of them had had the
courage to denounce it. It appeared from a long
rambling statement that having applied for a sum-
mons against a person whom he described as a
swindler, he had been summoned next day at the
suit of that swindler. The justices, it seemed, had
refused his application, whereupon he had written
a letter to the clerk of the justices, on account of
which he was sued for libel at Westminster. He
however gained the verdict, but the justices refused
to dismiss him. He appealed against them to Mr.
Walpole, the then Home Secretary, and the then
Lord Chancellor, who told him they could do
nothing. This was the system of which he com-
plained. In, the course of a long incoherent ha-
rangueit occasionally dawned out that his presence
had something to do with the game laws, the com-
mitments under which had fallen in the Isle of
Wight by his exertions and constant interference
from 67 to 28 per annum. The audience, who had
evidently imagined that reform in Parliament wal
to be in some way -or other brought under dis-
cussion, and evidently sympathised but in the
most infinitesimal degree in the complaints of the
orator, but who were amused by his assurance that
he had bearded some justices (whom he named) on
the bench, and kicked another (also named) along
the streets of Glastonbury—soon declared their dis-
content by unmistakable signs, calling for " The
People's Charter," "Parliamentary Reform," and
inquiring what they were to be " indignant" for.
The speaker was awakened by this from his own to
the general grievance, and proclaimed, as he said,
in " words of fire," the fact that if the House of
Commons remained as it was, the country was
ruined A Gallic invasion was imminent, and the
people would not fight the enemy unless they were
treated with justice, an' were permitted to share
in the Government of the country. No country-
could long exist under a system of corruption such
as existed in England, and unless the people united
to reform it the country was lost for ever and ever.
When the speaker concluded, a young M2ll
walked upon the platform, ar.d, taking off his hat,
was about to-address the meeting, but Mr. Hawkins
seized him by the collar, and with the determina-
tion and strength of amaniac hurled him down the
I steps into the body of the hall. There were some
slight indications of resenting this "the indigna-
tion" scene; but the feeling of the majority was
surprise, and before they had recovered, the gentle-
man who had caused it threw his coat over his arm
and marched away in triumph, kicking the hat of
the unfortunate wight whom he had so summarily
ejected, which had been left upon one of the plat-
form seats in the hurry of his exit, far into the
distance.

After Mr. Hawkins bad left two or three persons
endeavoured to speak on the subject of reform, and
que suggested a resohition in favour of universal
suffrage, but the attendants of the hall interposed,
and by lowering the gaslights speedily cleared the
building.