The Sun.
London, England, 1832-11-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNAL 6

The Conservative, party-coloured, politico.
mercantile, Dutch-loving, reform-hating, peace-
professing, war-provoking city meeting of yes-
terday, turned out to be, as we were sure it
would, a desperate failure. Nor could it be
otherwise. In support of the professed object
of the meeting, there was not a word to be said ;
not one syllable in the shape of argument could
he pressed into the service by that ingenious
gentleman Mr. Thomas Baring, as a cloak for
the shallowness of the pretence upon which the
requisition was got up ; and we will venture to
say that if the whole business was yesterday
morning at breakfast-time suspected by the more
sagacious part of the public to be a mere vulgar
election manoeuvre, two hours before dinner the
suspicion had ripened into proof. The humble-
witted (Tory) Chairman, Mr. T. Wilson, with
becoming prudence, deprecated any " disputa-
tion" wi'h respect to the object they had in view,
and in the course of a subsequent interlocutory
address that worthy functionary took further
precautions for the insuring of unanimity and the
saving of trouble, or in other words, for the pre-
vention of all possibility of debate upon the ques-
tion, or rather no question, about which the as-
sembly was called together. " For," says the ex-
representative of London, "in my opinion thereis
no necessity for those gentlemen who concur in the
(prepared) resolutions to express their assent ;
ind, on the other hand, I hope that all those
who hold a different opinion on the subject %vit%
be good enough to abstain from making any re-
marks !! !" One party is not to " assent," and
the other is to shake its head, and " say no-
thing." 01), ye rare Conservatives ! In pur-
suance of this masterly arrangement of the
Chairman, when Mr. Taylor, a Common Coun-
cilman, first presented himself, to ask for " in-
formation" upon some important branches of
the subject, he was met by shouts and angry
hisses—so confident were these learned peace-
mongers in the superiority of their cause to all
the assaults of reason. When we say that a
person of the name of Baring (not Alexander—
the great one of that antagonist family,—he
whose vote never failed to give his own speech
a cross-buttock,—but the dear illustrious Tho-
mas) took the lead in the proceedings of the
day, our readers will be at little loss to under-
stand the nature of those proceedings. He de-
fended Holland with as much consistency as
Alexander did Callington, and had an audience
somewhat better prepared to back him. The
interrogatories put by that gentleman respecting
Holland,—" What has Holland done ? Has
she violated treaties ? Has she attacked Eng-
lish property ?" &c., may be answered in one
sentence. She has endangered the security
derived to us from whatever treaties yet exist
in Europe,—she has shaken the protection hi-
therto enjoyed by every British merchant and
proprietor,—because she has brought all Europe
to the very brink of war. As for the profes-
sions of non-interference with foreign countries,
under which the illustrious aforesaid Mr. Thos.
Baring taunts the British Ministers with having
come into office, will Mr. Baring pretend that
such declarations would prescribe or justify at
all future times, and under any given change of
circumstances, an absolute indifference to the
overthrow of all the existing relations among the
Powers of Europe, great and small ? If Eng-
land sees plainly that her sole chance of prevent-
ing a system of ambitious interference by some
of her neighbours with others for aggressive put=
poses, which must lead to universal uproar and
convulsion, is she unwise to interfere herself,
when by doing so she forces the unruly among
Governments to define the objects for which
they contend, to restrain their activity within
limits which she approves of, and to acquiesce
in such a result of their operations as shall
be compatible with the common interests of
Europe ? The actual interference of England we
maintain to be for a good and politic end, be-
cause it is to frustrate another sort of interfe-
rence, of which she decidedly condemns the mo-
tive, and of which she fears the consequence.
This, then, is the fair meaning of that phrase
which has been the subject of the aforesaid il-
lustrious Mr. Baring 's clumsy ridicule—
" making war to prevent war." We do make
a partial and transient war, to avert one which
would probably be general and lasting, just as a
skilful surgeon would command a toe to be
amputated to save a mortification of the leg,
which is " inflicting torture to prevent torture,"
is it not ? If, then, Mr. Baring had been
blessed with half the brains of the most feather-
headed Irishman, he would have seen the folly
of his own facetiousness on such a subject. In-
deed, with all our candid good-nature, we arc
disposed to retract our epithet of " illustrious,"
and to leave Mr. Baring with his proper epithet
of " simple Baring." But it is said that the
capture of Antwerp will not settle the Belgic
question, for that the navigation of the Scheldt
was still left a point sub lite. 'We rejoin, that
the possession of Antwerp settles effectually one
Belgic question, and that the most pressing and
critical of any. The disputed right to a for-
tress is one which almost naturally appeals to
the sword for its arbitrament. The charges upon
shipping are as naturally settled by peaceable ne-
gotiation. If the Scheldt should hereafter re-
main an open question, let the case be pro-
vided for as futurity may advise. But when a
certain embarrassment arises, and the only effi-
cacious means of removing it are adopted, what
sort of a reasoner is he who objects " Ay, but
even supposing you succeed in this particular
enterprise, there will still remain further knots to
be untied, and problems to be solved, and diffi-
culties to be surmounted ?" Why, the fair an-
swer to all such cavilling is, that the means now
employed for a certain purpose are calculated to
effect that purpose; and when other emergen-
cies show themselves in succession, we must
endeavour to deal with them. Nevertheless,
we must be allowed to conjecture that the re-
covery of Antwerp from the Dutch is of itself
the most promising preliminary to a solid ad-
justment of the whole Scheldt question. Why
is Antwerp kept stubborn possession of by the
King of Holland ? Confessedly as a hostage—
as an instrument through which he hopes to
obtain better terms in the settlement of all other
questions, that of the Scheldt included. It is
e i
clear, therefore, that after the loss of the fortress,
the Dutch Court must feel itself less able than
before to resist the claims of neighbouring commer-
cial nations upon the free passage of the Scheldt,
wereldt,
i°
would have
otherwise the
anobject,seizureo f
unlessAw
nt
indeedru
been. r
theu
post
nwithouta v
wed and iniquitous one of making
that a stepping-stone to the reconquest
of the whole of Belgium. In fine, the real
difficulty •of discussing this matter is the utter
want of an argument with which to contend.
[he Conservatives themselves, when they object

to what is doing, say not a word of what ou :10
to be done in lieu' of it. They do not counsel
Ministers to give back Belgium for six months
to Holland, or to France for ever. They do
not counsel the British Government to risk a
general war in Europe—to stand the hazard of
the die—whether foreign armies are to possess
themselves of Berlin, or Vienna, or Paris once
more, or native subjects everywhere to dethrone
their Sovereigns, and expose the entire world to
revolution. No ; the Conservatives are not rash
enough to admit that such things would be de-;
sirable, although, even with their stupidity, they
must be aware that some of the above enume-
rated evils would be unavoidable but for this
initiative taken by England ; and that, speaking
truly, let them splutter as they will, the present
enterprise, set on foot for the purpose of recalling
the King of Holland to the obligations of good
neighbourhood, is not alone substantially, but
literally, a preventive and pacific measure. If
we had to express our opinion of the meeting
in one word, we should say—if we could com-
mand our laughter—Bale !—Tinzes.
The meeting of merchants, shipowners, and
others, anxious for the preservation of pacific
relations between this country and Holland,
which was held at the London Tavern yester-
day, demands from us a few observations, in re-
ference to the important object for which that
meeting was convened. In a country like Eng-
land, whose national greatness and political
power have been the result of the successful ap-
plication of her commercial industry and enter-
prise, neither the interests of commerce nor the
opinions of commercial men will ever be under-
valued by Statesmen of sound and capacious in-
tellect, and who rightly understand the position.
which a nation circumstanced like our own
ought to occupy among the communities of the
earth. We believe that our present Ministers,
with the exception of two or three individuals
who only derive importance from their official
station, are by no means inclined to undervalue
the interests of commerce in the abstract, or to
make light of the opinions of any large and
respectable class of its supporters ; but, some-
how or other, they have been induced to
listen to counsel which has led them into
a course of policy not calculated to restore lan-
guishing commerce to a healthy vigour, but tend-
ing, on the contrary, to encumber it with greater
embarrassments, and cripple its remaining re-
sources. In treating this subject we would se-
parate the underlings of the Government from
the Ministers themselves. The latter will not
treat with contempt any respectable meeting of
British merchants and shipowners, however dif-
fering from themselves in opinion ; while the
former, with equal bad judgment and bad taste,
assail, in the ribald strain of party violence, the
first merchants of London, because they venture
to remonstrate with Government upon the folly
of commencing a war against Holland without
any justifiable ground of quarrel on our part,
and in direct opposition to their oww repeated
professions of non-interference. When, indeed,
it is said that those persons composing the nu-
merous and respectable assemblage of yesterday,
who passed resolutions deprecatory of our adop-
tion of warlike measures against Holland, ought
to have come forward before, we cannot but
admit that they ought to have done so. They
were either sadly remiss in their attention to
those interests, in which they have so large a
stake, not to have expressed their collective opi-
nion on this great question at an earlier period,
or they must have supposed it impossible that
Ministers could have been serious in their threats
of hostile proceedings, until they saw them about
to be actually carried into execution. But what-
ever blame may attach to commercial men,
for not making a public declaration of their opi-
nions sooner, it is no justification of the con-
duct of Ministers that their policy was not
sooner impugned. If their policy cannot be
defended on its own merits, it has no defence at
all. For our own part, this charge of making a
late remonstrance does nut apply to us. Those
who rely more upon the point of time than the
merits of the case cannot deny our claim of
having been early enough in the field. We
protested against interference in the quarrel of
Holland and Belgium from the very beginning.
We protested against it when the Duke of Wel-
lington was in power, and the Whigs were on
our side. We protested against it when the
Whigs came into office, and endeavoured to
cover their inconsistency under the shield of the
Duke of Wellington's example. We fore-
warned Ministers that they would involve them-
selves in difficulties, from which it would not be
easy to escape. We reminded them of their pledges
of non-intervention in vain. We repeatedly told
them that by the absurd complications of the
protocol diplomacy they were tying a knot
which it is probable could only be cut by the
sword ; but the sycophants of Government led on
the public credulity from week to week, and
from month to month, with the most positive as-
surances of a peaceable solution of a question con-
tinually becoming more intricate, and which as-
surances were always falsified. There never
were Statesmen who know, or ought to know,
better than the present Ministers, that warlike
interference in Continental quarrels has been the
great bane and curse of the prosperity of Eng-
land. Every leading man in the present Mi-
nistry has over and over again stated as much.
That a snict adherence to the principle of non-
interference was the wise and true policy of
England could not be laid down in stronger
terms than it was laid down by the present
Ministers before they came into office when they
assailed the Duke of Wellington for commenc-
ing, professedly as a mediator, the course of
interference which they have carried to the length
of armed arbitration. A mediator interposes
only his friendly offices between contending par-
ties, and withdraws if his advice be not taken.
Our Ministers acted in this way with regard to
the political Conference at Rome respecting the
political disturbances in the States of the Church.
They proposed certain reforms, conjointly with
the other great Powers, to the Sovereign Pontiff.
They were not carried into effect ; and without
asking the consent, and contrary to the wishes,
of their high Allies, our Government with-
drew from the Conference, and left the
Pope and his subjects to settle their disputes
between themselves. If they had acted
in this manner in regard to Holland and Bel-
ium, they would have
saved themselves great
e
''rouble, and protected the country from the
perils of a war. An armed and coercive media-
' tion is a political plecism ; it was never heard
of before the present day. It is one of the dis-
coveries of the nineteenth century, which will
not add to the reputation of the age for clear
perceptions or excessive wisdom. While nations
are fond of interfering in the concerns of others,
they will never want for a pretext. It is now
nearly forty years since a British Ministry an-

nouneeel, as a reason for going to war with
France, the necessity of keeping the Scheldt
closed, Which France then wanted, as now, to
open. Our Government recognised the claim to
the exclusive navigation of the Scheldt assured
to Holland by the treaty of Munster, and con-
sidered it for the interest of British commerce

that the navigation of the river should not be
free. We now go to war with Holland to open
the Scheldt, and call upon a French army to
assist us. The Emperor Leopold of Ger-
many had previously attempted the same
object in vain. We know that it is ne-
cessary to the prosperity of Belgium, if
she is to be a commercial country, that the
Scheldt should be free ; but, as Belgium is likely
to be annexed to France at a future time, it is
certainly against our own interests that it should
be free. But, whether for or against our oven
interests, we can have no doubt upon the sub-
ject that perfect neutrality was the policy which
our Government ought to have observed. If the
claims of the conteHding parties could not be
determined without an appeal to arms, the people
of Holland and Belgium—the former being
about two millions, the latter nearly four—
should have been allowed to fight it out. If so,
the question would long ago have been decided ;
and, if Belgium was not able to cope with so
small a State as Holland fairly in the field, it is
quite clear that she has not in her the elements
of a separate existence. She must be attached to
some stronger Power, and her independence is
a fiction. Are the people of England to be taxed
to keep the son-in-law of Louis Philip on a
throne which he and his people have not the
courage and energy to defend ? Is Holland,
one of our very best customers and oldest Allies,

to be alienated from us, because the Doctrinnaires
of France wish to play the game of ambitious
popularity in Belgium at our expense ? We
know not what may be the result of these things ;
but, however they may end, we know that they
have not commenced in wisdom or a sense of
justice.—Morning Herald.
the meeting at the City of London Tavern
yesterday was just what we anticipated it would
be. Notwithstanding the disclaimer by the
Chairman, Mr. Thomas Wilson, of all party
motives, and his wish to have it believed that
the meeting did not originate in party motives,
the various speakers left no doubt either as to
their motives or their object. In fact, the gen-
tleman who moved the first resolution—the
scion of the house of Baring, as he was termed
—Mr. T. Baring, could not have been outdone
by our contemporary of the Standard in fer-
vency of zeal for the cause of the King of Hol-
land, and eagerness to convert that cause into a
means of embarrassing the present Ministry.
Mr. Thomas Wilson, in order to show that the
employment of force against the King of Hol-
land would be injurious to British interests, re-
ferred
to a prediction in a letter of our corre-
spondent, 0. P. Q., of the 28th of September
last, that Belgium would one day be united to
France. We ourselves believe that on the
very first continental war, France will take pos-
session of Belgium, and keep it if she can. But,
because this will in all probability be one of the
first fruits of a continental war, it does not follow
that no measures ought to be taken to prevent
the dispute between Belgium and Holland
embroiling Europe in war. If effect be not
given now to the arrangements of the Conference,
there is no saying how long Europe may remain
at peace. Let us keep off the evil clay as long
as we can. We could. not, without a general
war, put Holland in possession of Belgium ; and
after what has taken place, Holland could not
retain possession of Belgium, except at an ex-
pense beyond her means. There is, therefore,
no conceivable arrangement that would not lead
to interminable difficulties except a separation ;
and the terms having been adjusted by the only
Powers able to disturb the tranquillity of Europe,
the sooner the parties are forced to agree to these
terms, the less chance there will be of a general
war. Are we to rush into a general
war, because on the first war France will endea-
vour to seize Belgium ? This would be about
as absurd as if a man, knowing that he must
one day die, were to determine to rush on death.

In the general indisposition to war among
the Powers of the Continent, from the risks'
to which a war would expose all of them,
how do we know that Europe may not remain
long in the enjoyment of peace ? • In-
deed, we have often been led to flatter
ourselves with the notion, that the people of
Europe, having now very generally attained the
conviction, that all nations have a deep interest
in the prosperity of each other—that they can
never gain anything by war, but must always
lose by it—that extension of territory is seldom
of any advantage to a people, and almost always
injurious, as the multiplication of the objects
claiming the attention of Government diminish
the chances of good Government—an universal
disinclination to war would, in a great measure,
put an end to that scourge of mankind. Be-
sides, supposing that in all this we are only in-
dulging a fond illusion, and that war would in
future, as it has hitherto, periodically ravage the
Continent, how do we know, if peace can be
preserved for a number of years to come, whe-
ther France will have the same power to seize
Belgium that she now has ? We know not how
much the changes that may take place in the mean-
time may alter the state of the question, on the
breaking out of a new war. So long back as
the time of Oliver Cromwell, the great dread of
Europe was Spanish dominion. Louis XIV.
made France the object of alarm. Prussia, dur-
ing the latter half of the last century, sprung up
in a generation into a power of the first magni-
tude. The Turkish empire, the dread of Chris-
tianity only a little more than a century ago, when
the Turks were at the gates of Vienna, is now in a
state of rapid dissolution. This will lead to great
and important changes in Europe. A power
which hardly engaged the attention of Europe
a century ago, Russia, is now the bugbear of the
West. We mention these things to show the
difficulty of any attempt to determine by antici-
pation the state of the world after an interval of
years. Every generation must live for itself as well
as it can. We do not see, therefore, why we should
not endeavour to make the most of the peace we

have, and to secure its possession as long as vk e

call, because at some future period our present
,arrangements may be overturned. If my house
be on the bank of a river, the first great flood
may sweep it away ; but, in the mean time,
there is no reason why I should not make my
roof proof against the rains of heaven. 'We ad-
mit that an embargo is attended with incon-
venience to our traders ; but a general war would
be attended with still greater inconvenience ; and
where there is but a ctroice of evils, all that the
wise can du is to choose the least. A war in
Europe would throw the whole commerce of the
country
into confusion. By a temporary incon-
venience, therefore, we should avoid a much

greater inconvenience. It well observed by our
northern contemporary (the Scotsman) that—
" The feelings of the people of Britain are clearly in
favour of Belgium, and against Holland. Yet the war
will be unpopular, as every enterprise must be which re-
quires the expenditure of money for objects which are not
British, or which do not appear such in the eyes of John
Bull. The cry is now, that we should separate ourselves
entirely from the broils:of the Continent ; anti the maxim
in the main is a sound one, though it has been adopted at
too late a period, and is misapplied in this instance.
There are crowds of
.ignorant and unthinking people who
will exclaim against the present Ministers for lengagingTin
a war, the blame of which ought to fall exclusively on
their Tory predecessors, who first made us parties in the
infamous partitions and compulsory unions of the treaty of
Vienna; and next, in pursuance of the engagements then
contracted, entangled us in the diplomatic meshes of the
present negotiations, of which the attack on Holland is
the legitimate resalt. The present Ministers would have
thankfully avoided interference in the Belgian affairs, if
they could. This was not in their power; but they have
conducted it to the termination which presented the
smallest amount of evil. In all human probability, the
war with Holland, limited as it is in its object and plan
of operations, will be finished in a few months. Had the
Wellington Ministry been in office, we should have been
coercing Belgium instead of Holland in the first instance,
to a certainty; and we believe, in our conscience, the
Belgium dispute in their hands would have become the
germ of a European war, in which we would have been
involved to our ruin. _ _

" Let our countrymen, therefore, look at both sides of
the question : let them remember that the small, and in
all :probability, transitory inconvenience they may suffer
by the course which Government has pursued, is the
price they pay for escaping evils and dangers a hundred-
fold greater.
' " There is now no 'doubt that Russia, Austria, 'and
Prussia, as well as Holland, have been acting in bad faith
all along. They protracted the negotiations by every art
of chicanery, in the hope of seeing the present liberal Go•
vernment supplanted by the Tories. Their object, we
firmly believe, is still the same. They know that a fac-
tion exists within the Court, which is sedulously watch-
ing for an opportunity to ruin the Ministry—iVey are
aware, that in the existing circumstances of the Ministry,
the war cannot be popular—and they calculate, that if
any miscarriage happens—if the operations are prolonged
—or if the expense exceeds what was expected, the Re- j
form Ministry may lose the confidence of the people,
which is their sole support against the faction in the
Court; and out they would be packed in an instant, to
make room for a Cabinet of quasi. Reformers, and politi-
cal hypocrites.
" We warn our countrymen, therefore, against the
snare that is laid for them. Let them be assured that the
real object of those who clamour against the Dutch war is
to bring in an illiberal Ministry, and to promote the views
of the Holy Alliance!"
All the arguments of the speakers of the
meeting of yesterday, were what the Germans
would call one-sided. They had exclusive re-
ference to the inconvenience to trade caused by
the embargo. It was like the silly cry of the
sick child against its physic. But the most of
the speakers, under the mask of deprecating in-
jury to commerce, were actually seeking to pro..
long the strife. " I trust, gentlemen (said the
scion of the house of Baring), that the mail
which leaves this city to-night for Holland, will
carry with it the sympathy of the British nation,
by which that country will be enabled to see
that, the generality of the people do not approve
of the course adopted by its Government." So
the object of the meeting, according to this gen-
tleman, was to encourage the Dutch to hold
out, in the hopes that a change of Government
in England would range this country on their
side! If the people do not approve of the
course adopted by its Government, the Govern-
ment must either change its course, or the peo-
ple will change the Government. This is the
reading which the young gentleman wishes to
impress on the Dutch. The meeting was in-
tended as a sort of Coups de Theatre. The
French and English agree to send an over-
whelming farce to take from the Dutch all in-
clination to resist, and thus prevent all unneces-
sary effusion of blood. Mr. T. Baring wishes,
on the other hand, to encourage them to hold
out, in the hope of a change in the Governmlnt of
this country. He does not care what calamity his
advice may occasion ; if he can induce the Dutch to
resist for a time, who knows what events may occur
to render the war general. This has been the
policy of the Conservatives all through. They
have encouraged the King of Holland in his
obstinacy, as they have encouraged Don Miguel,
in the hope of thereby producing a general war.
Had not the King of Holland buoyed himself
up with the hope of aid from the Conservatives,
he would have yielded long ago. Their sym-
pathy now is to prevent him from listening to
the dictates of prudence. But they will be
disappointed. The meeting of yesterday did
not express the sentiments of either the commer-
cial world of London, or the sentiments of the
people of England generally. The people of
England see that the object of the Conservatives
is not peace, but war. The Ministry will not
allow themselves to be turned from their course
by the endeavours of a faction. They will soon
show the King of Holland that if he has
trusted to the Conservatives, he leans on a
broken reed. They will rely confidently on the
good sense of the country. A few weeks will !
serve to bring the King of Holland to his
senses ; and the people of England, grateful for
the tranquillity of Europe which they shall owe
to the promptitude of Ministers, will laugh the
Conservatives and all their little manoeuvres to
scorn. The war on which the Conservatives
calculate as a means of withdrawing the nation
from reform in our laws and institutions will not
take place ; and they will be left to the enjoy-
ment of the reputation of having wished to do
mischief without succeeding in it.—Morning
chronicle.

Yesterday a meeting of the merchants, ship-
oWners, and others, anxious for the preservation
of pacific relations between this country and
Holland, was held at the City of London Ta-
vern. We call the attention of our countrymen
to the history of this meeting. How was the
meeting got together ? Not by any subtle ma-
nceuvre—not by any well-concerted surprise—not
by a confidential whisper—not by a quiet
distribution of tickets. The utmost publi-
city was given to the names of those who as-
sembled it, and to the objects for which it was
assembled. It was abundantly placarded and
advertised. The Journalist of the Treasury,
who had announced on Monday that Rochdale
" did not speak the language of London," did
his utmost in his leading article yesterday to
prevent London from speaking the language
of Rochdale. The endeavours of this writer
were not without their effect. We know that
in compliance with his suggestions every effort
was made in the city to collect a force for the
support of his Majesty's Government in their
career of injustice and aggression. Hints were
thrown out, assurances were given, that the Wil-
sons and the Barings would be discomfited, that
amendments to their resolutions would be moved
shipowners, and others" was an-
and carried. Wherever the purpose of the
meetingth e meetingcon s
consist
t got?
we
preparations were made for their de-
nmoeurcnlciaeldit,s,
together. Of
fv,e,hato.in
Tdi
the statement of the Globe; tile statement of a
witness anxious of course to underrate, so far
will quote
hdutsh the was
as in common honesty he can, the importance of
the proceedings of the day ; to deprecate, so far

as truth will allow him, the number and re-
spectability of all who took part in them. "'The
meeting," says the Globe, " was very nume-
rously and respectably attended, the large
room being quite full; and much interest was
excited in consequence of the present state of
the Dutch and Belgian question." The Globe
is right. The lowest estimate that was made
within our hearing of the numbers present
computed them at 1,200. They consisted,
not of political partisans, not of aspirants
after honours, not of expectants of place,
but of opulent merchants, of respectable
traders, of bankers, of stockholders ; of all,
in short, who are best acquainted with the
commercial interests of the country, and
most able to protect and advance them. The
fact that such a number of such men were con-
gregated at a day's notice sufficiently proves
the interest which was excited. But it was not
less clearly proved by the attention with which
the speakers were heard, and the enthusiasm
with which they were applauded. And
what were the proceedings of a meeting
convened by this sufficient notice, and attended
by this numerous and respectable assemblage ?
Resolutions were moved, not in furtherance
of the political views of a party, not in a
spirit of hostility against the existing Govern-
ment, but in a tone of deep regret and of
truly national indignation. The resolutions
stated that the meeting "viewed with deep con-
cern and alarm the appointment of a squadron
of British ships of war avowedly intended to
co-operate with a French force against Holland ;"
that the hostilities thus threatened " did not
appear to have been provoked by any injury
inflicted upon British interests, or by any insult
yffered to British honour." The resolutions
were moved and seconded by gentlemen of
whom not one had taken any share in the party
feuds of the day ; of whom not one had fought
the battle of close boroughs, or voted against
" nothing but the Bill." Our readers will ob-
serve that the mover of the first resolution was
Mr. Thomas Baring, himself unconnected with
any political faction, the son of Sir Thomas
Baring, who is at least not unfriendly to Lord
Grey's Administration, the brother of Mr.
Francis Baring, who is Lord Grey's son-in-law,
and who holds office under Lord Grey. The
resolutions were received by this numerous and
respectable meeting with an assent so nearly
unanimous that the minority served only to show
that the meeting had not been packed or un-
fairly brought together. Against the first re-
solution not twenty hands were held up ; against
those which suceeded it not ten. The speakers
who ventured to address the meeting in defence
of the Cabinet were two ; the first a person who
announced himself a Republican and an enemy
to all war ; the second a Mr. Taylor, a printer,
whose office is in the neighbourhood of Fleet-
street, an orator whose eloquence Guildhall has
often admired, but whose dissent can scarcely
be taken to have made the merchants and ship-
owners other than unanimous upon this most
momentous question. Once more we entreat that
our readers will look with solemn interest at the
proceedings of this meeting, perhaps the most
important, as regards the object for which it was
summoned and the men by whom it was at-
tended, that ever this great city has seen col-
lected. It was summoned for the preservation of
peace ; it was attended by those to whose fortunes
war will be ruinous. Men were there of various
ranks and stations and professions, all united in
reprobation of a policy which to all ranks and
stations and employments appears alike unprofit-
able and disgraceful. Whigs and Tories, Con-
servatives and Levellers, all were for once
agreed in condemnation of a war which
is alike distasteful to Whigs and Tories,
Conservatives and Levellers, because it is
waged against the best interests of that
land whose children they boast themselves
to be. It is now for the country to bestir itself.
In London, no Tory, no Conservative, no Mem-
ber of Parliament, no Tully of the hustings, has
taken the lead. If any such captain had lad
the van, the purpose of our struggle might have
been misinterpreted, and our cause might have
been greeted with a less universal acclaim. Let
this fact be noticed in the country. The mer-
chants of our great seaports, whose trade is
attacked, the manufacturers of our large towns,
whose market is endangered, must not wait for
Members or for Candidates, for Honourable
and Right Honourable Gentlemen. Strong in,
the integrity of their motives, they must come
for a brief space from the mart of their industry,
or from the seclusion of their retirement into the
throng and conflict of public life. Let the ac-
countant come to battle with his ledger, and the
clerk with his inkhorn. We shall know by the
result of this struggle whether England be yet
what she was once called in derision, but what
the lovers of her commercial and manufacturing
greatnesspkeeper mays calliif lnioreing rinphoosnt.our, a nation of
sho
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