The Sun.
London, England, 1832-08-02 00:00:00

THE WESTERN GARLAND.

A little work, which does credit to Mr. Atkin-
son, of Glasgow, its spirited publisher, being
a very agreeable collection of Scotch songs, set
for the most part to sweet and plaintive music.

THE REFORMER. 3 VOLS. LONDON', 1832.
A well-written tale, as regards incident and
character, but with this prevailing blemish, that
it is too much spun out. The work should
have been comprised in two volumes ; it would
then have excited great interest ; but at present
it " drags its slow length along' from chapter
to chapter, through no inconsiderable portion of a
third volume. The females are the best drawn
characters in the tale, and prove that the author,
possibly authoress, has familiar acquaintance
with the hearts of women.

LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC.
LONDON, 1832.

This work, it seems, was undertaken at the
express instigation of Sir W. Scott, who thought
it might make the subject of a very useful and
entertaining volume. Dr. Brewster, the author,
has not falsified Sir Walter's prognostications,
but produced one of the most captivating works
we have perused for many a long year. The
style is charmingly familiar, and the scientific
explanations are stripped of all mysterious tech-
nicalities, so as to bring them to the level of or-
dinary intelligence. At some leisure moment
we may be tempted to give extracts from the
very curious chapter on " Spectral Illusions."

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BIR-
MINGHAM POLITICAL UNION.

On Monday the Third Annual Meeting of the Political
Union of this town, postponed from the first Monday in
July, was held at Newhall-hill. The attendance was far
from being so numerous as upon any former occasion.
The Council, carrying their wands, and headed by the
Union band, arrived on the ground about half-past eleven
o'clock, and immediately proceeded to ascend a new and
commodious platform erected for their accommodation,
and admissible to others on the payment of one shilling.
We observed among the strangers present, Count Czapski,
Robert Cassady, Esq, (candidate for King's County),
Devereux, Esq. of London, and other Gentlemen of sta-
tion and influence from distant parts of the country.
On the motion of Mr. Arrwoon, seconded by Mr. B.
HADLEY, G. F. Musaz, Esq. was called to the Chair.
The CHAIRMAN advanced to the front of the hustings,
amidst loud cheering, and commenced by observing, that
they had all heard, and they all knew, that the Reform
Bill of itself would not relieve the country from distress;
that although a good measure as far as it went, yet its be-
nefits would only for the most part be enj'yed by their
children or their children's children. As for its imme-
diate effects upon the people, he need scarcely tell them—
for they were all equally and painfully sensible of the truth
—that they were as far from prosperity as they were
three years ago; aye, even as they were a month ago.
He had attended with great anxiety to the remarks in Par-
liament of various Members of his Majesty's Government
—he was sorry to say that they too frequently talked of
the rights of the rich, and altogether forgot the wants of
the poor—(Cheers)—in the obtainment of Parliamentary
Reform. He (Mr. AI.) was in hopes that the present in-
vestigation before the Bank Charter Committee would in-
form them upon one important subject; but of this he was
certain, that unless prompt measures of relief for the country
were adopted, the present Ministers could no more stand in
their situation than did the Ministry of the Duke of Wel-
lington.
Mr. Arrwoon then presented himself amidst the most
tremendous cheering. He was sorry to inform them that
their worthy and excellent friend, Mr. Scholefield, and
one or two others connected with them in the Union, had
recently resigned. This circumstance, however, he hoped
would not induce them to suppose that be felt or anti-
cipated any weakness, for he could assure them there was
no weakness in their camp.—(Loud cheers.) The people
of England, he was sure, would not be deceived by the
atrocious oligarchs, who asserted that the distress of the
country was to be attributed to the excitement occasioned
by the proceedings of their great association. If England
had not been ground down to the dust like unfortunate
Ireland, it was owing, he fearlessly asserted, to the exer-
tions of the Council of the Birmingham Political Union.—
(Cheers.) He (Mr. A.) would take care, if the Union
continued their confidence in him, that the oligarchs
should be compelled to relax their sordid, and merci-
less grasp ; or if they refused to do this act o f justice
to the people, they would most certainly be compelled
to sleep in the same bed with their victims.—(Cheers.)
It was certain that the committals for crime had been qua-
drupled in England during the last fifteen yeas. Those
committals had arisen from 4,000 to 16,000 persons per
annum since the peace. All this terrible increase of ap-
parent guilt was in reality the crime of the oligarchs, and
not of the people. The poor man was driven by the guilt
of the oligarchs from one difficulty to another, until at
last he was imperceptibly involved in what the law called
crime. He had in part pledged himself, in common with
the other members of the Council, that he would not agi-
tate the public mind upon political subjects, when the
prosperity of the mass of the people should be restored.
By this test he was willing to abide. If justice was done
to the people under the Bill of Reform, he, as a member
of the Council, was bound under a solemn pledge to cease
to labour in the great work of exciting the public mind to
political objects. But if the prosperity of the people
should not be speedily and effectually restored, he (Mr.
A.) was under no such pledge. He could assure them he
should not be content with any nibbling measures, if such
a contingency should occur.—(Cheers.) The Marquess
of Blandford's Bill would at one period have satisfied him,
if it bad then been granted in honesty and good faith ;
but if he should ever be compelled to continue the agita-
tion of the public mind, nothing less than universal suf-
frage should satisfy him.—(Vehement cheers.) When he
first formed the Union, near three years ago, he told them
he would never mention the subject of the currency again
until a reasonable Reform of the Parliament was effected.
He believed he had kept his word; but it was now his
duty, Reform being accomplished, to reveal to them the
real truth and the real source of all their miseries. He
bad told them a few weeks ago of the confession of Mr.
Campbell, the eminent lawyer, who had stated publicly,
that in the return of peace the sum of 14s. of our present
money, ought to have been coined into a pound sterling of
our present money ; which was in fact a confession that
two hundred and forty millions of sovereigns had been
swindled out of the pockets of the people in one single
thi on nd
nbufardete,nms,uveihz.u—ndtheer.rNataetdiotnhails
terrible D e b .
rpohfilitiepa
Jdnhannsdnnh,eart, though a mere
of Leamington, had
ofi‘‘i
Irtf.leaormurt.
kdb
Cieonufahgpmitogmlpieibeetecsnhihtal
the
people. A most upright and worthy man,
mechanic,
de
put this subject in a clear light to him a year ago. He
said to him (Mr. A.)—" Here are three half-crowns of
silver in my hand ; the other day I had also ten half-crowns
of paper. The boroughmongers have now taken away from
me the ten half-crowns of paper. But, God curse their souls,
they have left the to pay the same rents and taxes out of
the three half crowns as formerly paid out of the thirteen,"
--(Cheers.) This was the greatest secret of the nation.'
distress. Now, he could tell them, that the national dis-
tress would be relieved in the same way as the national
liberty had been restored.—(Cheers.) He (Mr. A.) had
now only to
asnpdeaiki i
so
rf
erine me for thepelex iasntidngshdnirstt.ressHoef
thehadpfeoorpmleer;ly told them that the atrocious corn laws had
been the basis of the more atrocious money laws, without
which the latter could not for a single year have existed.
They were twin devils, working together for the infernal
purpose of aggrandising the rich, and degrading and de-
stroying
poor.—(Loud cheers.) What, said Mr. A.,
is
eeessary of life? Food, What is the second
the
first
st the

necessary of life ? Money to buy it with. What is ruin ?
not the ruin of a young woman, but the ruin of an honest
tradesman ? The want of money to pay his debts, by
which he falls into the gaol. Now what do you think of
a Government which, on the one hand, passes laws to
make scarce the food which supports man's life, and, on
the other hand, passes other laws to make scarce the in-
strument which conveys the food into the mouth—
which feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and
breaks open prison doors, and sets the captive free,
and saves families from ruin ? Such a Government
ought not to exist on the face of the earth.—(Cheers.)
It was these sordid and wicked laws of the oligarchs that
must be overturned before the prosperity of the people
could be restored. The Corn Laws must be repealed ;
the Money Laws must be abolished; the Taxes must be
taken off the industrious classes, and placed upon the
shoulders of their oppressors. These were his remedies—
cheaper bread, more money in their pockets, and less
taxation to be borne. Mr. Attwood, then, after some
further observations, concluded amidst loud cheers, by
moving the adoption of the Report of the Council.
The report, dated July 30, congratulated the Union on
the passing of the Reform Bill, which was attributed, in
a great measure, to the exertions of the Union, and re-
commended confidence in the Reformed House of Com-
mons, to which the Council looked for still greater im-
provements in the representation of the people—such as
vote by ballot and short Parliaments. It concluded by
stating, that if the Reform Bill should not have the speedy
effect lof restoring prosperity to the lower and middle
classes of the people, the Council would then feel them.
selves released from their late pledge—" to cease to labour
in the great work of exciting the public mind to political
objects."
Mr. B. HADLEY, Honorary Secretary to the Union,
seconded the adoption of the report.
Mr. G. Enatotsps moved the first Resolution—
" The Bill of Reform having been obtained, it is now
the duty of the Council to exert themselves to the ut-
most, that instant and effectual measures may be taken
by the Government to allay the present severe and into-
lerable distress amongst the productive classes of the com-
munity, and to restore the national prosperity."—[Three
groans were given for Sir R. Peel, and three cheers for
Mr. Edmonds.]
The Reverend T. M. M‘DoNNELL seconded the Re-
solution.
Mr. T. C. SALT moved the adoption of a Memorial to
Lord Grey, which concluded as follows :
" We respectfully submit to your Lordship, that in our
humble opinion the three following ,measures are indis-
pensably necessary to the ends of justice, and to re-
store the happiness and contentment of the country :
" First—The abolition of the present Money Laws,
which beat down the price of labour.
" Second—The abolition of the Corn Laws, which lift
up the price of food.
" Third—The abolition of the Malt Tax, and all other
taxes which press upon the working classes."
Mr. M. P. HAYNES seconded the Resolution proposed
by Mr. Salt.
When the resolution was put to the meeting, Mr. T.
PARKIN rose and proposed the following amendment:—
" That the great cause of our distress is the alliance be-
tween the Church and the State, and the existence of the
national debt ; such alliance and such debt being formed
and created in opposition to the legitimate object for which
Government was ordained ; and that till this alliance is
dissolved, and this debt extinguished, there can neither
be prosperity in, nor security for, the country."—ln pro-
posing this resolution, Mr. Parkin said he was anxious to
make it known that the people knew the cause of their
misery, and that they would no longer have their pockets
picked either by knaves in black or red coats.—(Cbeers.)
He said the distress at Dudley was excessive; the masters
felt it no less than the men.—(Hear.) All the iron
masters would soon become bankrupts.
The amendment was seconded by Mr. BROWN.
Mr. ATTWOOD, in noticing the speeches of the last three
speakers, said, that to a great extent he agreed with them
upon the character of the enormous burdens which they
had alluded to. Mr. Attwood then entered upon a long
argument, to prove that at present it would he rash to
pass such a resolution as that which Mr. Parkin had
proposed.
After some remarks from Mr. MuNrz, the Chairman,
the amendment was lost, it being supported by not more
than six persons, whilst the original resolution was carried
triumphantly.
Mr. DE Bosco ATTWOOD believed that the Reformed
Parliament would not meet before spring ; and he thought
that, if no effectual steps to relieve the general distress
were taken before that time, the whole fabric of society
would be crushed to atoms by the despair and madness of
a wretched—a starving populace.—(Hear, bear.) Mr.
Attwood then made a long harangue on the wrongs of Po-
land, and concluded, amidst great applause, by moving the
adoption of an address to the people of the United King-
dom, and a petition to the House of Commons, both of
Which were carried by acclamation. The former related
to Poland, and concluded as follows :
" Friends and fellow-countrymen—There is not a mo-
ment to be lost. Every hour adds to the wrongs of Po-
land. Every hour diminishes the strength of our friends,
and adds to the confidence of our enemies. Meet respec•
ively in all your towns, and petition the Government to
consult the national honour and the national safety, by in,
listing that the faith of treaties shall be respected, and tha
Poland shall be restored to independence."
The latter also related to Poland, and contained the fo
lowing—.

" Your petitioners consider that the interest and safety,
as well as the honour of England, require that Poland
shall be restored to independence. That it appears evi-
dent to your petitioners that there exists an atrocious
combination amongst the different arbitrary Governments
to mutually co-operate in putting down the principles of
liberty and humanity throughout the whole of Europe.
" Your petitioners believe that there is no time for
compromise or delay; and they earnestly pray that your
Honourable House will forthwith address his Majesty,
imploring him to consult the honour and the safety of
England, by insisting that Poland shall be restored to a
state of independence and freedom ; and to take any steps
whatever which may be deemed necessary to effect that great
and paramount national object, without regard to risks or
sacrifices—being well assured that the British people will
cheerfully support his Majesty in any measures which may
be found necessary."
Mr. CHARLES JONES seconded the resolution.
Mr. DE Bosco ATT WOOD proceeded to introduce to the
meeting Count Joseph Napoleon Czapski. The Count
being recognised by the meeting as be came forward, was
received with the loudest acclamations. He spoke in very
intelligible English, and addressed the meeting on the
subject of Reform and Poland.

Mr. MARDEN, in an animated speech, expressed his
delight that Englishmen were at length roused to a sense
of duty towards Poland. To lift up that poor, prostrate,
bleeding country, was a work of justice and patriotism.
The Rev. T. M. M'DoNNELL proposed a resolution
respecting the late proceedings in Ireland, which condemned
the conduct of Government.

Mr. T. A. ATIWOOD seconded the resolution, which
was agreed to.

Thanks were voted to Mr. Muntz and Mr. Attwood,
after which the meeting separated.
The unusual length of the proceedings of the meeting
prevents us from giving any account of the dinner, which
was served up in excellent style at the Globe Tavern.