The Sun.
London, England, 1835-08-12 00:00:00

MEETING AT LEICESTER.

T a numerous and highly respectable MEETING
of the INHABITANTS of the Town of LEICESTER,
held at the New Hall, Wellington-street, on Monday evening, the
10th inst.

THOMAS PAGET, Esq., in the Chair,
The following Resolutions were unanimously agreed to :
Moved by Isaac HonosoN, Esq., semndecl by Mr. W. E.
HUTCHINSON,

That it is with feelina-s of the deepest regret this Meeting marks
the proceedings of the House of Lords respecting the Municipal
Corporation Reform Bill, introduced into Parl:ament by his Ma-
jesty's Ministers, and which has passed the House of Commons
almost without opposition. They cannot consider the determina-
tion of the House of Lords to hear Counsel against the principle of
this Bill, involving as it does a great and extensive legislative mea-
sure, otherwise than as a confession of the inability of that House,
as Legislators, to cope with such a subject without foreign aid, and
thus to lower and degrade that Assembly yet more in the estima-
tion of the people.

Moved by Mr. WILLIAM BIGGS, seconded by Mr. R. J. SMITH.
That the insulting and abusive language reported to have been
used by Counsel respecting the people, at the bar of the House of
Lords, not only unrestrained, but apparently with the approbation
of certain Noble Lords, excites in the minds of this Meeting feel-
ings of indignation and disgust, still farther increased by the recep-
tion of ex parte evidence •f the very men who are most intimately
mixed up with all those corporate transactions of which the people
so justly complain, and who notoriously profit by the abuses which
they uphold.

Moved by Mr. S. STONE, seconded by Mr. T. T. PAGET.
That, in the opinion of this meeting, the conduct of the Commis-
sioners of Corporate Inquiry in this town, Messrs. Whitcombe and
Cockburn, in the performance of their important duties, was ex-
emplary in every particular—that it was marked by gentlemanly
demeanour and calmness of deportment, and ready to receive evi-
deuce from all persons—and that the Report which they have fur-
nished respecting this Corporation is, in the judgment of this
meeting, correet in all essentials, and as accurate as possible in so
wide a field of inquiry, and amidst such a conflicting mass of
evidence.

Moved by the Rev. C. BERRY, seconded by Mr. ALFRED

BURGESS,

That, contrary to the evidence given at the bar of the House of
Lords, the conduct of the Inhabitants of this town, during the
course of the examination at the Castle was orderly and decorous,
and that whatever excitement existed in the minds of the specta-
tors was confined within decent bounds. This Meeting in the
fullest manner, therefore, confirms the truth of the statement made
by the Commissioners as to the conduct of the people; they de-
clare that the assertions put forth to the contrary are false and ca-
lumnious, and that no pretence can be further from the truth than
that any individual could be deterred from coming forward to give
evidence from feelings of intimidation or personal fear.
Moved by Mr. Join; Ews, seconded by Mr. R. PALMER,
That in imploring the House of Lords to pass this Bill into
a law, the people ask a measure only of common justice : they
seek not spoliation, as ithas been calumniously said, but restoration :
they require that the property which for many hundred years was
applied strictly to public purposes should be so applied again ; they
demand, and justly demand, that an unlimited and irresponsible
power of taxation and expenditure, such as even the Parliament of
the United Kingdom does not claim, shall not be confided to persons
in whom they have no trust, no confidence whatever, and that jus-
tice, impartial justice, the first and most important of all the attri-
butes of Government, shall be placed within the reach of every in-
dividual. That to acquire these just, these holy objects, the inha-
bitants of this town will never cease to exert every lawful means
within their power, and they will never admit that the assumed
privileges of a few individuals ought to stand in the way of the
Just rights, of the contentment, of the prosperity, and of the hap-
piness of a great and intellectual people.
Moved by Mr. Harms seconded by Mr. GARDINER

That a Petition to the House of Lord; embodying the above re-
solutions be prepared and forwarded to that Assembly, imploring
their Lordships to dismiss from their minds all those unfavourable
impressions against the people of this town, which may have arisen
from the representations of their inveterate enemies at the bar of
their Lordships' House, and that they will forthwith pass the Bill
in such integrity as to give satisfaction to the people of these realms,
and that the same be forwarded to Lord Brougham for presentation.
Moved by the Rev. Join( TAYLOR, seconded by Mr. MOORE.
That the thanks of this Meeting be in a most especial manner
given to Lord Melbourne, for his recent noble and manly conduct
in the House of Lords, and at the same time to assure him of the
increased confidence of the people in him, and in the present Ad-
ministration, and that whatever the crisis may be which is sp.-
proaching to assure his Lordship of the unflinching determination
of the inhabitants of this town to support him and his Majesty's
Ministers by every constitutional means in their power, in carrying
into effect those principles of good government, of which his Lord-
ship and the other Members of the Government have shown them-
selves such able and honest advocates.

Moved by Mr. SAMUEL KIRBY, seconded by Mr. SHARDLOW.
That that part of the evidence given at the bar of the House
of Lords by Mr. Meredith, reflecting so pointedly on the consti-
tution of the County Magistrates be printed, and that a copy of it
be transmitted by the Chairman of this meeting to the Secretary
of State for the Home Department, respectfully requesting his at-
tention to it—to the Commissioners of the Great Seal—to each of
the acting County Magistrates, and to the Lord Lieutenant of the
County, requesting his Grace to vindicate the character of the
Leicestershire Magistrates from the reflections cast upon them by
Mr. Meredith's testimony, or to take effectual steps for securing
the better administration of justice for the future.
That the thanks of this Meeting be given to the Chairman, for
his able and impartial conduct.