The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-05 00:00:00

The Reform Movement.

Yesterday Mr. George Potter, the president, and
Mr. Hartwell, the secretary of the London Working
Men's Association, with Mr. Brookes, of Newgate-
street, acting as a deputation from that body, applied
for and obtained an interview with the Lord Mayor
at the Mansion-house, in reference to a public meet-
ing of working men about to be convened in the city.
The Lord Mayor received the deputation in his
drawing-room, accompanied by Mr. Alderman Lusk,
M.P. for Finsbury, by whom they had been intro-
duced.

Mr. POTTER, addressing the Lord Mayor, said they
had called upon him as a deputation from the Lon-
don Working Men's Association, whose offices were
in the city, and the members of which were mostly
citizens of London, to ask for the use of the Guild-
hall on some evening next week for a meeting of
working men on the Reform question. They them-
selves were all working men in the city, and they
bad thought that as the Guildhall was formerly a
hall common to the citizens, and in which meetings
on many public questions had from time to time
taken place, the Lord Mayor would be kind enough
to let the NN orking men of London have it for once
at this particular time. He would pledge himself
that the meeting would be conducted in a quiet and
orderly manner, and that the artisans and mechanics
who would attend would be citizens principally.
His Lordship had the " prerogative" with reference
to the hall, and respectfully asked him to comply
with the request, the more so as the meetings out of
doors had been complained of, and as the Times had
said they could not be allowed to hold them, as,
moreover, there were so few open spaces in London
and its neighbourhood available for public meetings.
Mr. BROOKES, one of the deputation, said it had
been in contemplation to hold the proposed meeting
in front of the Royal Exchange, or in the- Guildhall-
yard, but it having been represented to them that
such a meeting might cause inconvenience to busi-
ness and obstruct the traffic, they had abandoned
the notion of convening it in front of the Royal
Exchange. It was important for the Lord Mayor
to bear in mind what Mr. Potter had stated, that
the men who asked for the use of the hall were
principally working men in the city, though they
might not reside in it. There was a large number
of them, they belonged to the Working Men's As-
sociation, and they asked for the only place in
which a meeting could be held in the city without
public inconvenience. It was the place where the
commonalty were accustomed to meet for the dis-
cussion of matters of public interest 100 years ago,
and he thought the application was a reasonable
one.

Mr. HARTWELL said it would be an evening
meeting.

The LORD MAYOR said he was very pleased to
hear from Mr. Brookes that the idea of holding a
meeting in front of the Royal Exchange had been
abandoned, because it had appeared to him that it
would materially interfere with the business of the
city. There they were all men largely engaged in
commerce, and anything tending to interfere with
their commercial pursuits was likely to occasion
serious inconvenience. He was, therefore, pleased
to hear that the deputation, representing as they did
a class of men respectable for their intelligence, had
the good sense to abstain from meeting there. The
history and purposes of the Guildhall were well
known to Mr. Brookes. It was the property of the
Corporation, and was used for other purposes, but
he had yet to learn that he had the power to comply
with their request. He need not tell them that a
Lord Mayor had no political opinions. He was
expected to be a sort of neutral animal—to respect
every man's opinions and to have none of his
own. (A laugh.) As to the term " working
classes," he did not quite understand the distinc-
tion it implied, for they were all working men
in the city, himself among the rest. He did not
want to stand in the way of a public expression of
opinion by any body of the citizens, but whether he
would be justified in throwing open the hall to men
who were, perhaps, not members of the Livery
was a question he was not prepared to answer. He
was pleased to hear they had abandoned their in-
tention to hold such a meeting in the streets, for
when a large body of men met in the public streets,
excited it might be, it was difficult to say what might
be the result. Such a gathering might lead, in fact,
to something which men like the deputation them-
selves were anxious to avoid, but which they might
be powerless to prevent. They had taken him un-
prepared, and he could not exactly say whether he
had the power to consent to their request.
Mr. HARTWELL asked if he would have any ob-
jection to the meeting being held in the Guildhall-
yard ?

The LORD MAYOR said they must excuse him
answering the question. He was, however, quite
satisfied that wherever they met they would have the
good sense to know that we lived in a country where
constitutional liberty and order went together, and
that whatever disturbed the one must necessarily
disturb the other. It was only by constitutional
means that they could get what they wanted, and so
far as he was concerned he did not care about such
a meeting being held in the city. Mr. Brookes well
knew his political sympathies, but, as Lord Mayor,
his first duty was to preserve order.
Mr. POTTER reminded him that the Guildhall had
been used for a public meeting in reference to the
condition of Poland and for conferring the freedom
of the city on Garibaldi.
The LORD MAYOR admitted it had, but he hoped
they would reconsider the matter.
Mr. BROOKES thanked his lordship for the cour-
teous manner in which he had received the deputa-
tion, and they took their leave, hoping that he would
yet give them a satisfactory answer.