The Sun.
London, England, 1832-05-08 00:00:00

GREAT REFORM MEETING AT BIR-

MINGHANT.

Yesterday the inhabitants of the midland counties gave the
"lie direct" to the cry of "reaction" so loudly bawled by the
Tory orators and Tory press of the metropolis. We have
already announced that a meeting, called by the Council of the
tirtningham Political Union, for the purpose of contradicting
unfounded misrepresentations as to the state of apathy of the
public mind on the subject of Reform, was appointed to be held
in Birmingham yesterday. That meeting was accordingly
held; and we may safely assert, of the most extraordinary
character, either as regarded its numbers, or the public en-
thusiasms exhibited throughout the whole proceeding that ever
previously occurred in this or any other country. So early
as Saturday the population of the town and its immediate dis-
tricts began to show evident symptoms of great excitement,
and on Sunday the roads leading to Birmingham, but more
especially the northern roads, showed that the attendance
from distant parts of the country would be immense. Some
thousands arrived in the course of that day, many of
whom came from the extremities of the counties of Worces-
ter, Stafford, and (3loucester. Before day-break yesterday
morning all was bustle and preparation. The previous
arrangements made by the Council were in themselves ad-
mirable, and executed with precision and punctuality by
the various gentlemen to whom they were intrusted. By
night the persons appointed to conduct the Unions of
the various towns in the neighbourhood that intended visiting
the meeting, repaired to the respective stations on the different
roads, each mounted on horseback, decorated or distinguished
by a broad sash of office, embroidered with the union jack. As
all the Unions round the country had resolved either to attend
in a body or to send deputations to the meeting, a superin-
tendent was appointed by the Council of the Birmingham Union
to meet them at the different roads, and to lead them with
other bodies into the town. Between nine and twelve these
various bodies began to enter Birmingham, each being pre-
ceded by a band of music , and exhibiting flags, upon which
were inscribed various patriotic devices and mottoes. At ten
o'clock the Council, at which numerous gentlemen of conse-
quence, unconnected with the Association, assembled at the
Union-rooms, Great Charles-street, and all arrangements being
completed, the procession, consisting of countless thousands,
proceeded to Newhall-hill, a place most appropriately appointed
for the meeting. The spot fixed upon is a large waste piece
of ground situated on the north side of the town, containing
17,000 square yards, and capable of accommodating, according
to the most accurate calculation, the immense number—consi-
derably exceeding a hundred and fifty thousand persons. The
ground rises on the front and on each side in the shape and
form of an amphitheatre; and, taking into consideration the
number who occupied the roofs of houses and various conti-
guous elevations, we should say that not less than from 130,000
to 150,000 persons were present. Shortly before twelve o'clock,
the programme being all arranged, the immense multitude,
beaded by Thomas Attwood, Esq., the Chairman of
the Birmingham Political Union, and the founder of that
and all other Unions, in company with the Council
carrying white wands, and followed by an immense proces-
sion, consisting of the members of the different Unions, pro-
ceeded to the place of meeting. We were favoured with a
seat in the first carriage, but admirably situated as we were for
viewing the whole of the most splendid cortege, we are unable
• to give anything like a description of the scene which it pre.
sented. Looking from the top of Mount-street up Newhall_
street to the end of Great Charles-street, the spectacle, from the
countless myriads of which it was composed, the splendid de-
. vices and colours which it exhibited, was truly magnificent.
On the arrival of the members of the Union at Newhall-hill,
the ground was found to be almost completely pre-occupied.
With difficulty the cavalcade approached the waggons allotted
for the accommodation of the speakers. The whole of the
ground and the tops of houses, as far as the eye could discover,
appeared to be completely covered with human beings. At
appropriate distances, on the ridge of hills opposite the speak-
ers, were various banners, among which we noticed in the
centre a magnificent royal flag, the same which was exhibited
at Somerset House, when the King went to open the
New London Bridge—" Attwood, Union, Liberty and Peace,"
" Earl Grey, the just rights of our order secured, and then
we will stand by his." " Lawley and Skipworth, and
the Independent Representatives who had voted for Reform,"
" A Free Press," &c. Suffice is to say, that among them
we noticed the banners of the Coventry, Warwick, Wol-
verhampton, Darlaston, Wednesbury, Walsall, Alcester,
Bromsgrove, Studley, Stratford-upon-Avon, Redditch, and
Shirley Unions. Our attention was necessarily, in a great
measure, confined to one spot, but a gentleman who visited the
several divisions gives us the following particulars from per-
sonal observation. He estimates the grand northern division
(headed by Mr. Fryer, the banker), including Wolverhampton,
Bilston, Sedgeley, Willenhall, Wednesbury, Walsall, Dar-
lesion, and West Bromwich, at 100,000 persons. The pro.
cession was four miles in length—the whole of the road for
• that distance being literary crowded. In this division there
were 150 banners, and eleven bands of music. The grand
western division including Stourbridge, Dudley, Harborn
Craidley, .Lyewasle, Oldbury Rowley, Hales,
;Mies iu length ; in numbers Sz ,c. was two
about 25,000, arid exhibited seventy

We will, we will, we will be free."
After this spirit-stiring composition had been thundered forth
by many thousand voices, silence was obtained by the sound of
the trumpet, and the mighty murmurs of the multitude being
immediately stilled, Mr. Attwood continued :3—We had de-
termined never again to petition the House of Lords ; but,
feeling as we do the greatest respect and veneration for the
ancient and honourable Aristocracy of the land—for such men
as Lords Westminster, Cleveland, Shrewsbury, and Radnor,
those ornaments of English history—we have not hesitated to
call this meeting for the purpose of petitioning their Lordships,
so soon as ever we saw that the calumnies and misrepresenta-
tions of the enemies of the people as to the state of public
feeling and opinion rendered such an exhibition necessary—
(cheers.) We who profess to be the ministers of peace and
reconciliation among all classes of his Majesty's subjects, we
would be the first to oiler the right hand of fellowship to the
House of Lords the very moment we see a disposition in that
Right Hon. House to support our privileges in the same degree
as we wish to support theirs. The enemies of the people have
told their Lordships that the country is indifferent in this great
cause. If we hold no meetings, they say that we are indif-
ferent—if we hold small meetings, they say that we are insigni-
ficant—and if we hold large meetings, they say that we are rebel-
lious, and wish to intimidate them— (laughter.) Do what we
will, we cannot do right, it seems. Now, GOD forbid that 1
should wish to intimidate them. I only wish to speak the plain
and simple truth which my duty compels me to speak, and which
is this :—I would rather die than see the great Bill of Reform
rejected or mutilated in any of its great parts or provisions
—(immense cheering, which lasted for a considerable time.)
I had rather hide my head under the earth than live to witness
the misery, the degradation, and slavery of my country. I see
that you are all of one mind upon this great subject.—(Cheers )
Answer me, then, had not you all rather die than live the
slaves of the boroughmongers ?—(All, all.) We are told, in.
deed, of apathy and indifference in the public mind. Now 1
have some means of understanding what the public feeling is,
and I say that the people of England stand at this very moment
" like greyhounds on the slip ;" and that if our beloved King
should give the word, or it' his Council should give the word
in his name, and under his authority, the grandest scene would
be instantly exhibited that ever was witnessed on this earth be.
fore.—(Loud cheers.) Now I beg, my fellow-countrymen,
that you will not think the House of Lords are your enemies
because they do not happen to understand your interests, and
your wants, and your wishes. The House of Lords are, in
my opinion, taken as a body, kind-hearted and humane men ;
but I am sorry to say that they are excessively ignorant of the
state of this unfortunate country. They were cradled in those
clouds which are now passing over our heads. In the clouds
were they cradled, in the clouds will they die. Not many days
ago a Noble Lord of the highest character assured rue that
there were not ten individuals in that Right Honourable House
who knew that the country was its a state of distress. Amaz.
ing as this ignorance is, it is the natural result of their position
in society. They come into no contact with you and your inte-
rests—they are surrounded by a few lawyers and clergymen, and
by bands of flatterers and sycophants, whose interest it is to " pro-
phecy smooth things" to the very last,and thus the Lords are shut
out from any real knowledge of the real state of the country.
It was but the other day that another Noble Lord assured a
friend of mine, that the demand for Reform arose from the
riches and prosperity of the middle classes, who had become
jealous of the aristocracy. Never upon this earth was there a
greater error. The middle classes had been literally scourged
with whips—they had been scourged with scorpions—and they
had then beets scourged with red-hot iron, before they had v en-
tured to interfere in any powerful and effectual manner. Here
then is a proof of the absolute necessity of Parliamentary Re-
form. Give us a House of Commons who are identified with
the Commons, and with the feelings and interests of the Com.
mons, and every thing will be right in England. The House
of Lords had been accustomed to look upon society, as if the
warts and excrescences of the social body were everything,
and the great limbs and interests—the heart, the head, the
body, and the powerful arms---nothing. When we obtain Re-
form in our own House, we shall teach them a very different
view of this important subject. Now, my friends, I must beg
leave to explain to you the absolute necessity of the peace, the
order, and the strict legality which you have always exhibited.
But for these great qualities our cause would have been lost.
Within the law the people are strong as a giant; beyond the law,
they are weak as an infant. See, now, the prodigious strength
which this meeting has peacefully and legally accumulated, and
compare it with the failures which, for want of due attention to
these great principles, have been exhibited in other quarters.
On the late Fast Day, about 30,000 worthy and well-meaning
men met together in London, for the purpose of holding a
harmless procession. A few individuals began to hiss and to
hoot, and to throw stones, and thus the meeting was made
illegal, and the leaders of an innocent procession were brought
to punishment, and sentenced to different periods of imprison-
ment. So al,so, in Manchester, lately, a considerable meeting
was held, which, it is probable, had no illegal views or objects ;
but a few individuals among them having made use of violent,
inflammatory, and illegal observations, the whole meeting was
thereby rendered illegal, and the leaders of it were imprisoned

in Lancaster Castle for different periods. The different meet.
ings had no power to prevent the punishment of their leaders,
because they were guilty of violations of the law. If they had
strictly obeyed the law, no power upon earth could have in-
jured a hair of their heads. It was the knowledge of this great
truth which made the Duke of Wellington complain very
pathetically a few years ago that the Irish people would not
break the law. Under the wise and discreet management of
that distinguished member of our Union, Daniel O'Connell,
the Irish people refused to break the law, and yet they moved
onward in a sullen, patriotic, and determined course, until they
had accomplished their object. I told you, my friends, three
years ago, at a great meeting at Mr. Beardsworth's Repository,
that the Duke of Wellington had " taught us how to command
Reform." Under the great lesson which his Grace has taught
us, we have gone on in England, step by step, under the sanc-
tion of the law, until at last we have made the earth too hot for
the soles of the feet of our enemies.—(Great Cheering.) See
now the prodigious power which the Association has obtained !
Under the sanction of the laws we have here produced probably
1200,000 human beings in one great assembly, not half of
whom, I am afraid, can come within the hearing of my
voice. Hitherto our exertions have been confined in direct
operation to this town and neighbourhood. Suppose now we
should erect the standard of the Birmingham Union in London
—that glorious standard which acts so terrifically upon the mind
of his Grace the Duke of Buckingham. I can tell you, and I
can tell his Grace, that if we should so act, nine-tenths of the
whole population of that immense city would instantly rally
round the sacred emblem of their country's freedom.—(Cheers.)
The same would be the case in Newcastle, in Manchester, in
Glasgow, and in Dublin. The whole of the British people would
answer to the call wherever the standard of the Birmingham
Union should be unfurled under the sanction of the King and of
the law.—(Cheers.) This is the power which we have gathered
up under a strict and dutiful obedience to the law ; and there-
fore I do strictly urge and enjoin you to continue still the same
dutiful and legal conduct which you have hitherto exhibited,

JOSHUA SCHOLEFIELD, Esq. after a long and eloquent
speech, moved the following resolution :
That this meeting feel it to be imperatively their duty once
more to come forward at this momentous crisis, for the purpose
of testifying their unabated enthusiasm and solemn determina-
tion in support of the great Bill of Reform, in order to strengthen
the hands of our most excellent King, and to assist in enabling
his Majesty and his patriotic Ministers to accomplish their great
designs for the happiness of the people, and to carry the Bill of
Reform forthwith into a law, uninjured and unimpaired in any
of its great parts and provisions.
That the petition now read be signed by the Chairman, in the
name and on the behalf of this meeting; and that the Lord High
Chancellor of England be respectfully requested to present it to
the House of Lords :
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE. THE LORDS SPIRI-
TUAL AND TEMPORAL IN PARMA MENT AS-
SEMBLED ;
The humble Petition (of the Inhabitants of the Town and
Neighbourhood of Birmingham, assembled in a Great

Meeting at Newhall-hill, this 7th' day of May, 18:32
Respectfully showet
lst—'l hat your petitioners are impressed with a due sense of
the wisdom and justice displayed by your Lordships in carrying
the great Bill of Reform through its second: reading in your
Right Honourable House.
2(l—That your petitioners are decidedly of opinion that the
speedy passing of the Bill of Reform into a law is essentially ne-
cessary to the contentment of the public mind, and to the preser-
vation of the peace and order of society.
al—Tbat your petitioners think it their duty respectfully to
assure your Right Honourable House that there is no foundation
whatever in the reports which have been circulated resrecting a
reaction or indifference in the public mind towards the great
cause of Reform, for your ;petitioners are quite convinced that
the attachment of the people of the United Kingdom to the Bill
of Reform now before your Right Honourable House is more
general, more deliberate, more enthusiastic, and more deter-
mined than ever.

4th —That your petitioners beg leave respectfully to represent
to your Lordships, that the Bill of Reform having been twice
brought forward by his Majesty's Government, and having been
twice approved and passed by the House of Commons, it is not
to be expected that this great and mighty nation, always attached
to the principles of liberty, can now be induceil by any human
means to forego or abandon any essential part of its principles or
provisions ; and, therefore, your petitioners do most earnestly
implore your Right Honourable House to continue the wise and
patriot c conduct which your Lordships have adopted, and to
carry the great Bill of Reform into a law, uninjured and unim-
paired in the 101. franchise, and in every other of its great parts
and provisions, in the hope of healing the wounds of the nation,
and of reconciling and conciliating all classes of his Majesty's sub-
jects with the state of society, and with each other.
sth—That your petitioners confidently disclaim any wish or
disposition on their part, or on that of their fellow-countrymen
at large, to contract or weaken any of the constitutional privi-
leges of your Right Honourable House ; but your petitioners feel
it to be their duty most respectfully to remind your Lordships
that the interference of Peers of Parliament in the elections of
Members of the House of Commons is not recognised by the
Constitution, and that in the opinion of your petitioners it is
equally unconstitutional for the House of Peers to exercise their
authority for the purpose of thwarting regulations which are
deemed just and expedient by the House of Commons, respect-
ing the mannerin which the Members of that Honourable House
are to be chosen, and the places from which they are to be sent.
6th—That your petitioners anxiously and earnestly implore
• your Right Honourable House not to drive to despair a high-
' minded, a generous, ' and a fearless people • not by the rejection
of their moderate claims to urge them to demands of a much
more extensive nature—demands which you would most cer-
tainly follow from the rejection or mutilation of the Bill by your
Lordships; and in particular not to teach them the fatal lesson
that moderate demands and peaceable demeanour are not to en-
title them to the consideration of their rulers, or to procure for
them the redress of their manifold and grievous wrongs.
701—Your petitioners [do, therefore, humbly and most ear-
nes' ly pray that your Right Honourable House will be pleased
forthwith to pass the Bid of Reform into a law, uninjured and
unimpaired in any of its great parts and provisions, and more
particularly uninjured in the clauses relating to the 101. franchise.
And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.
Mr. F. MUNTZ—Mr. Chairman and Fellow Countrymen,—
It is with very great pleasure I rise to second the motion of
my friend, Mr. Scholefield, being convinced, from the remarks
of various Anti-Reformers, that it is absolutely necessary for
you plainly to show what your expectations are, otherwise you
will certainly be represented in the approaching Committee as
being now quite indifferent to the Reform Bill. It is also a
duty you owe to the King and his Ministers to inform them
that you cannot consent to any mutilation of the Bill, parti-
cularly as respects any alteration of the 101. franchise; for you
will be much better without any Reform at all, than with one
of less popular influence than the one now proposed by Mini-
sters ; and that sinless the Bill is passed into a law, without
material alteration, you shall continue to exert your energies
in all possible legal, peaceful, and constitutional ways, to obtain
the whole of your just rights and privileges, as by the Consti-
tution acknowledged. There is no doubt that all men who
contribute to the revenue or taxation ought to have a vote or
voice in the election of those who conduct the expenditure,
and upon that principle it would appear that, by the present
system of taxation in this country, all men have a right of
vote; but it is very questionable if the principle of universal
suffrage would work best for society ; and equal justice may be
done to the poor man by relieving him from taxation,.as could
possibly by giving him the right of voting at elections, which
relief I have no doubt he would obtain from a House of Commons
chosen according to the principles laid down in the Bill now
before the House of Lords. It is under this impression that
• I have always recommended you to accept the Bill, with-
out attempting to obtain the whole of your constitutional
rights ; being convinced, that as it is now constructed it will
secure to you indirectly all the same advantages; but if any
• material alteration should be made in it, I recommend you to
refuse it altogether, as you are much better without any retbrm
than a sham one. Nothing can now prevent you from obtainil4

our rights if you are united, peaceable, rational and persever-
g. ; the progress of reform is now too great to be long postponed,
eithor by a base oligarchy, or an interested faction ; your op.
laments are all well aware of this, and they have therefore re
course to all sorts of tricks and misrepresentations in the hope
of delaying their well-deserved disgrace. If you are silent
they represent you as indifferent; if you are active, they say
!.ssii threaten them ; if few in numbers you are contemptible;
if numerous then dangerous; and they call upon the Govern-
sent to interfere; in short, they are like the man who never
was satisfied when he was beaten at chess ; he always made
some objection as to the manner in which it was done—whether
he received check-mate from Queen, Castle, Bishop, Knight,
sir Pawn, he was equally discontented. 1 have frequently
cautioned you against expecting the immediate prosperity which
many anticipate from the passing of the Reform Bill, and I
again urge you to bear in mind that the reform in itself can
no more rectify our ills than it can have caused them; it is
from a different system in the part of the Government,
after the Reform Bill is disposed of, that we are to expect any
improvement in our affairs ; and we have no just right to corn.
plain of the present Ministry neglecting our interests until
they have leisure to attend to them, which at present they
cannot have had, in consequence of the factious, vexatious,
and scurrilous opposition to the Reform Bill having employed
all their time. I have no doubt that the country might be
made prosperous and happy without a Reform in Parliament,
because I am sure that the far greater part of our miseries arise
trorn the most extraordinary compound of ignorance and im-
becility (not to say wickedness) that any country was ever op-
pressed by; all of which miseries might and ought to have
been avoided; and I believe that if the Tories could now re-
turn to power they would create prosperity, but I also am eon_
vinced, that if they produced the prosperity without our first
obtaining the Ileform,:they would, as soon as they had means,
draw us into another war for the divine right of Charles the
Tenth, Don Miguel, or some other equally-amiable friend of
theirs, and by their old system of loaning and funding, and
taxing posterity, plunge us further into debt than ever, and then
tell us to be thankful that we have an existence, although
a most miserable one. Be assured that the permanent
liberty, independence, and happiness of this country, can
only bs, obtained bylusib.a.:Reform as shall give the people a
Tull, fair, and free representation in their own House, which,
therefore, I shall never cease to advocate, and endeavour to pro-
cure for them by all the legal and constitutional means in my
power, while I have life and health to enable me to
do so. To conclude, I heartily seconded the motion.
Mr. G. EDMUNDS wowed the adoption of the following
petition :
That this meeting solemnly declares that if the Bill of Reform
should be rejected by the House of Lords, or should in any way
be injured or impared in the 10/. franchise, or in any of its great
parts and provisions, this meeting will, in that case, never
cease to use every possible legal exertion in its power to obtain
from the justice of Parliament, from the prerogative:of the King,
or from the unquestionable privilege of the House of Commons,
a more extensive restoration of the constitutional rights of the
people than the present Bill of Reform is calculated to give.
Mr. BENJAMIN Hamm* (lion. Secretary of the Union) rose
to second the resolution. This was a proud day for the peo-
ple of England, if it were true, as has been said, that Birming-
ham was the barometer of the Reform feeling throughout the
kingdom. If a triumphant refutation of that foul slander were
wanted, which had been so industriously circulated by the
anti-Reformers, that a reaction had taken place in the public
mind, that immense assembly would furnish it. If there were
a reaction it was from a lesser to a greater degree of intensity.
He would admit, for argument sake, that a reaction on the
subject of Parliamentary Reform had taken place in public mind,
and would ask where were the proofs of it I Certainly they
could not be found in the metropolis of England, Scotland, or
Ireland, nor in the county and other meetings which had taken
place, and were about to take place. If there was a ma-
jority of the enlightened, wealthy, and intelligent classes
of the country against the Bill of Reform, as had been
falsely stated by the Duke of Wellington, he asked where
were they to be found ? Where were their public meetings
recorded, and of what numbers did they consist ? He had
paid great attention to the public meetings which had been held
throughout the kingdom on this subject from the time Lord
John Russell first re-introduced the Bill into the House of
Commons to the present moment, and the miserable few who
opposed it were contemptible both in point of number and pro-
perty. If he were in error he desired to be set right, and
implored an Anti-Reformer, of such an one could be found in
that assembly, to step forward and enlighten them on that sub-
ject.—(There are none in Birmingham.) He would undertake
to say that he should have a fair and impartial hearing.
" What, Sir 1" continued Mr. 11., " cannot one man be found
in this immense assembly who will corroborate the state-
ment of the Noble Duke, or who will from prin.
ciple, or from pity, advocate the cause of the Anti-
Reformers ? What, Sir, not one ? Let us assume, and we
have a right to assume it, that there still exists the
same unanimity of feelirsg--the same resolute determi-
nation on the subject of Reform as ever.—(Cheers.) And,
judging from the present and recent meetings held in difThrent
parts of the kingdom, there is a daily increasing number to the
ranks of reformers, made resolute by an act of justice so long
delayed, and who will shortly, I fear, be made desperate by the
excrtions the anti-reformers are making to withhold from them
their lost rights and liberties. During the time the subject of
Catholic emancipation agitated the country, I admit there
were two parties, pretty equally balanced--as was manifest
from the petitions which were presented to both Houses of
Parliament; but, lie would ask, could it be said, with even a
semblance of truth, that such was the case then with respect to
that Bill of Reform which they were met that day to support ?
—;No, no.) Much of the opposition to the Bill hail taken
place on the ground that it would not he a permanent measure;
and what course did the opponents of the Bill take in order to
render it permanent? In the House of Commons they had
done their utmost to strip it of all that was valuable, or worth
the people's acceptance, and the Opposition Lords had pledged
themselves to manifest the same destructive spirit. The
people asked for the Bill of Reform, as brought forward
by his Majesty's Government, and were willing to make
trial of a measure greatly short of what justice would de-
mand, and if such measure in its operation bring about
the prosperity and happiness of the country they would
be content.—(Load cheering.) But, no; even that measure
of partial justice the boroughmongering oligarchy are un-
willing to concede, and they are so infatuated as to think that
the more they render it unlike what the people want, the
more likely it is to be a permanent measure. The enfran-
chisement, disfranchisement, and 10/. clauses arc the essential
principles of the Bill ; and if the oligarchs are so ineffably stu-
pid as to imagine that the people are such fools as to accept the
Bill when deprived of these principles, or injured or impaired
in them, they will find themselves most miserably mistaken.
Why, he would ask, had the people given up vote by
ballot, triennial Parliaments, and scot and lot suffrage—the
constitutional rights of the people ? For no other reasons
than because they confidently relied on Earl Grey and his
pledges that the present Bill should be passed, in its full in-
tegrity, untouched and unmutilated, and because they were
willing to give the Reform measure a fair trial.—(Cheers.)
And if in its operation, as he had said before, it secured the
liberty, and brought about the prosperity and happiness of the
people, there would be no ground of complaint, and discontent
and agitation would be at end.—(Cheers.) If that Bill did not
pass into a law in its full integrity, the Reformers of Great
Britain would be released from their engagements to support

the present Ministry, and would be fully justified in demand-
ing a much more extensive measure of Reform, and a much
more extensive measure the people , would have despite
of any opposition, come from what quarter soever it might.
--(Loud Cheers.) That Lord Grey would exert him-
self to the utmost to satisfy the just expectations of the country
he cculd not and would not doubt for a moment. No Minister
recorded in the annals of civilized society could ever boast of
such great, such universal support. No Minister that wielded
the destinies of a great nation ever possessed such power of con_
ferring lasting renown upon himself, and happiness or misery
on his countrymen. In his hands were the lives, the fortunes,
and the happiness of 24,000,000 of human beings. Would he
pass that Bill, and do an act of imperative justice to injured
and suffering millions, and thereby insure their lives, their for-
tunes, their property, and their happiness ; or would he let slip

that golden opportunity and plunge this unhappy country into
irremediable ruin ? " Lord Grey," continued Mr. H. has
the power to pass his Bill, or he has not. If he have the power
and does not avail himself of it, no matter from what cause,
whether from an indisposition to increase the Peerage, or from
any other cause whatever, I say that curses loud, deep, and
universal, will follow him and his name to the latest posterity.
—(Vehement cheers) If he have not the power, then his
only course as an honest man is to resign his post, and publish
the true cause to the world. If he refuse to adopt this course,
then the same fate awaits him." Few men had given a more
active and zealous support to Lord Grey than he, (Mr. H.)
had, and none were more willing to continue it, as long
as he acted up to the solemn pledges lie had given ; but,
after all, he implored the people to rely mainly on them-
selves.—(Loud and continued cheering.) And let them never
forget the language of that enlightened Jurisconsult, Jeremy
Bentham, " that it was only by making the ruling few uneasy
that the oppressed many could ever obtain relief." Mr. Had-
ley concluded, amidst considerable cheering, by seconding the
resolution, which contained the sentiments held by the Refor-
mers of that great town and neighbourhood, which were ex-
pressed in firm, yet temperate—manly, yet respectful—lan-
guage ; and he had no doubt but they would have their proper
weight in that Ilouse, on whose decision hung the destinies of
the empire.
The
Rev. Dr. WADE, Vicar of St. Nicholas, Warwick, in
moving the third resolution, said,—Gentlemen, I most cordi-
ally approve of the determination of your Council, of which I
have the honour to be a member, to insist upon the carrying of
the 101. clause, the enfranchising and disfranchising, and me-
tropolitan clauses of the Bill, in all their integrity, as being
for the benefit of others as well as of ourselves; and if we
should be disappointed, I shall then most heartily assist our
Council in all their exertions to obtain scot and lot, and to el-
feet a more complete restaration of the rights of the people
than the present Reform Bill affords,
and to adopt, with the

Tory faction have shown bad taste in despising the opinions
of the commonalty, from which they have so recently sprung,
and which contains individuals of as noble descent and far
clearer understanding than themselves. The haughty de-
meanour of more than one Anti-Reform Peer, clothed in a
Right Honourable old title, resembles the ass in the lion's skin.
NVhat a contrast does the magnanimous conduct of the Shrews_
burys and the Norfolks afford to such mushroom Lords! In-
stead of imitating these good examples, one Anti-Reform Peer
unjustly insults the new Members of the House of Commons,
and the Reformers of England, for sending them there, and
especially this county, and one of our county Members, by say-
ing "That none of the newly-elected Reform Representatives
have displayed even ordinary ability. Another disparages the
noble plan. of Government for benefitting Ireland, by giving
education to all_ One Duke affects to deride Political Unions;
but could he witness the immense assemblage of hundreds of
thousands of loyal, peaceable, intelligent Unionists now assem-
bled under Attwood, without being convinced of his error, and
striking his flag to that of Attwood ?—(Cheers.) Another
desires "disciplined freedom," which means, I suppose, the
Military torturing and Gagging Bills, by passing a Bill for the
suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and all kinds of oppres-
sion ; while some evince peerless skill in splitting straws and
settling differences between tweedle duns and tweedle dee—
between " public mind" and " popular opinion." It was re-
served for a Spiritual Lord to collect all the excrementitious oft:
scourings from the shameful parts of the Constitution, in order
to till his pot of pamphleteering slang. They should recollect
the lines of Burns—
. ts would some power the gitlie gie them,
To see themselves as others see them,
would trae ninny a blunder free titens,
And foolish notion'."
Yes, Gentlemen, we must free the Tory Lords from their " foolish
notion " that their artifices can perpetuate the already too long
reign of Tory influence. . The voice of an united empire must
sanction Lord Grey in creating new Peers, in order to restore
the lost balance of power, and to enable the Reform Lords,
both spiritual and temporal, who support the Reform Bill, to
defeat the enemies of it. Although I was grieved at the ap-
parently equivocal description of which Lord Grey gave of the
principles of the Bill, yet actions speak stronger than words;
and as his tactics carried all the principles of the Bill
through the Lords, notwithstanding Lord Lyndhurst's caveat,
that the admisssien of the whole would not be the securing
of all its provisions, I have no.:doubt that, as Lord Grey has
nailed all the clauses of the Bill firmly to the table of the House
of Lords, he will clench and rivet them there, so as never to fall
under it by creating Peers to any amount; for since the whole
empire, from electors to elected, from peasant to Peer—from in.
dividuals to millions, have performed every tittle of Lord
Grey's own propositions, he is bound in honour, honesty,
law, and Gospel, to perform his part of the national co.
venant, of which if one jot be left unfulfilled the whole is
vitiated. The question then for us to consider is, how we
shall proceed if the Bill is mutilated ? Why, scout it; throw
it aside; tread it underfoot as a rotten, putrid weed ; demand
scot and lot, demand a more complete and effectual restora-
tion of all the rights of the people than the present Bill of
Reform is calculated to give. A London Morning Paper
has called Birmingham " the barometer of the Reform feeling
throughout England." I would say that, under such an
insulting injury, it would become a thermometer, and rise
to fever heat with rage, indignation, and vengeance. Mr.
Hume has said " that the Peers never will remove the
yoke from the people till they evince their determination no
longer to submit to it." Then let us now declare that we will
have the entire Bill, or never rest till we legally obtain more
than the Bill—a complete restoration of the rights of the
people. I wish not to use the language of intimidation, but
of conciliation. Should, however the Bill be mutilated, I
would be ready, and doubtless many more of the clergy of all
denominations would be ready, to accompany the Birming-
ham people to London to petition the House of Lords on
what the Council should deem most proper and spirited, and
necessary for all the best interests of the people, as the Ca-
tholie clergy of Poland, with crosiers in their hands, went be-
fore the armies of the brave Poles, to meet the hordes of Rus.
scan barbarians led by Russian despots. I would go to peti-
tion the Commons to subdue the refractory Lords. The Anti.
Reform Peers must fail eventually ; for if they attempt, like
mad pilots, to push the good ship Reform amongst the breakers,
still the crew, composed of the best of the aristocracy, the
middle classes and working classes, under our Royal Captain,
will haul her through all obstructions into the harbour of
success. I earnestly wish the anti-Reform Lords would try
no rash experiment upon the national mind—matured by a
growth of fifty years. I wish the spirtual and temporal Peers
who are " waverers," would become the," saviours" of the
privileges of the Peers, and of the lives and properties of
the people; for if the Bill be mutilated, I have reason to
know, from those who take an active part amongst the
workbag classes, that the working classes of London are
conscious of their power, and if exasperated by a Polig_
oar Ministry, will remember how such Ministry was sub-
dued in France by the Revolution of July. At the same
time the working classes desire to unite with the middle
classes in legal measures to obtain lawful objects for the
common benefit of all. They will certainly discuss the ques-
Cion whether it would be better to wait patiently for ten years,
while the middle classes are reduced to working classes, and the
working classes to pauperism and starvation or to emigration
to foreign lands, or whether a struggle should take place ;
therefore I suggest that the best and most peaceable counsel for
the interests of the working classes and of all the people,
should be given to the working classes in an address to them
from the Birmingham Political Union. Let me remind our
Worthy Chairman that the inscription on the statue of the
American Washington has these words :—" First in peace,
first in war, and first in the love of his countrymen." Now,
I am sure Mr. Attwood will deserve the love of his countrymen
by pursuing, under all circumstances, legal measures to obtain
a complete restoration of all the rights of the people, which
alone call prevent a civil war, promote the prosperity of the
people, and secure the permanence of our Constitution.
That this meeting, impressed with the deepest gratitude and
respect for the wise, benevolent, and magnanimons conduct of
the most excellent King, relies with full confidence that his Ma-
jesty will not suffer the hopes of his faithful people to bedisap-
pointed, or allow any infringement upon the In/. franchise, or
upon any other of the great provisions of the Bill of Reform ;
but that his Majesty, with the firmness and decision which so
eminently distinguish his character, will, if necessary, resort to
his high and undoubted prerogative of creating Peers, and thus
insure the liberty, the happiness, and contentment of his people.
And this meeting is further confirmed in the belief that this
great prerogative will be brought into exercise, from the reflec-
tion that during the last seventy years a great majority of the
present Peerage has been created from among the predominant
Ministerial party in the state, which renders it doubly necessary
that new creations of Peers should now be had recourse to, drawn
from the ranks of patriotism and of enlightened intellect, in
order to bring the House of Lords into harmony with the Com-
mons and with the gracious and benevolent designs of his Majesty.
The resolution was seconded by the Rev. T. N, MAC_
DONALD, amid loud cheers.
Mr. JOSEPH PARKES—Brother Reformers, and Fellow.

countrymen, I come forward to propose a resolution at this vast
and impressive, and, I ardently hope, this last great local meet-
ing in favour of the great question of British liberties which

has so long agitated our minds. I appear before you with
mingled feelings of hope and fear, and the predominance of the
latter commands my attendance here this day. Brother Re-
formers, our labours have not yet ceased. A reaction has taken
place in the minds of our opponents, and the House of Lords
has at length passed the second reading of the English Reform

Bill. But this vote amounts only to the concessio that their
Lordships will take the Ministerial measure of Reform into

consideration ; and when I see the balanced state of parties in
the Upper House of Legislature, I cannot but discern that we

are yet in the hands of our political enemies. It is, therefore,
that I come forward with the resolution in my hand; and
although not a member of Political Unions--having been,
as you know, early in this contest opposed to their forma-
tion, and disliking two governments, yet I should feel
degraded if I did not now admit the powerful effect
these associations have produced on the public mind,
and how much is due to that chairman (Mr. Attwood),
who is their great parent, and who now presides over a public
meeting, unparalleled, I believe, for numbers, and real political
zeal and intelliigence.—(Loud cheers.) Fellow countrymen,
having said thus much of my opinions on political unions, I
will now tell the Peers of the United Empire, that if their great
national measure of Reform is ultimately rejected, and Lord
Grey driven from office, or if it be mutilated or rendered inoper-
ative, the Unions will be trebled and quadrupled in numbers, I
speak from personal knowledge, and I know that the majority
of young men of all classes in this town and neighbourhood,
not now members, are resolved to enrol themselves in your
ranks, and to stick by you in the breach. Friends and
fellow countrymen:—(Loud cheering)—God forbid that I
should excite you to the dernier resort of a civil and phy-
sical contention for your liberties as Englishmen, or that I
should seek to influence British Noblemen by any unworthy
or false terror of Revolution. I am one of those who fore-
see that a violent Revolution in this counlry, which might
destroy public coedit, might depose the boroughmongers, and
utterly destroy their wicked domination—but, my countrymen,
the mass of the people might be plunged into the most woful
want and personal strife. Who can think of the channels of
industry choaked up in this vast ocean of manufacturing labour 'r
Who can contemplate a complete cessation of the demand for
labour without discerning that this generation would make
tremendous sacrifice for the liberty of posterity. But I di
solemnly warn—l implore the House of Lords riot to force the

That, in the opinion of this meeting, our most excellent Kink
is the sole judge of the proper period, and of the proper extent,
and of the proper object, at and for which his Majesty's Royal
Prerogative of creating new Peers should be exercised ; and thi,
meeting is of opinion that it must be much more constitutional
that his Majesty should interpose his high prerogative for the
protection of his people, and for the preservation of the peace
and order of society, than it is that the House of Lords should
interpose their privilege for the purpose of obstructing the exc.
cution of his Majesty's wise, gracious, and paternal designs.
The following resolutions were moved and seconded trx
Messrs. De Bocoe, Attwood, Salt, Collins, Sic.
That this meeting knowing and feeling the genera-11-did line.
quailed distress which has so long afflicted the British nation,
and paralysed all their energies, and,which has progressively in.
creased in severity, until it has now become literally insuppotf.
able, cannot but indignantly deny the false assertion of the etn-
tales of their country's liberties, that the distress is to be attributed
to the introduction of the Bill of Reform ; for that this meetink,
knows that the apprehension that anarchy may be occasioned hi
the rejection or mutilation of the Bili is the only cause connected
with the question of Reform which has in any stay contributed
aggravate the existing distress of the country ; and this rneetin,
has been fully convinced, by the long and painful experien,
of petitions neglected and distress denied, that the only possibli-
hope of the real cause of distress being effectually and perms
newly remedied depends entirely upon the restoration to the in
dustrious classes of their constitutional right to be represented ii
the Commons' House of Parliament.

That the cordial and grateful thank: of this meeting pre
gelded to the numerous bodies of upright and patriotic mea whvi
shrinking from no labour in their country's CaliSe, hare volunta .
rily attended this meeting in countless thousands from the Wu,.
taut towns of Wolverhampton, Warwick, Coventry, Stratford,
Dudley, Bilston, Kidderminster, Studley, Redditcli,
Wednesbury, Stourbridge, Dales Owen, Rowley, Tip,
ton, Darlaston, Oldbury, Westbroinwicht and other distant part.
of the country.

The meeting did not break up until hear six n'eluel: lavt,
night.

PUBLIC MEETING.—A very crowded public
meeting, called by the constables of Lees-cum. Hey, near
Oldham, was held at the Swan Inn, in that place, on
Monday evening ; at which it was resolved to petition the
Lords not to destroy the efficacy of the Bill, particularly
the 10/. qualification clause, and to pray that the .proposed
borough of Ashton-under-Lyme may be rendered co-ex..
tensive with the parish.—Leeds
The inhabitants of Wakefield have requested
with
Constable,h,vh ieh t
h bye coa
nh.
ti h t a:veees;ptrleeo• eacg:helilaisysni ttatic ntrio,ot
uatlopehottlaihr
a public meeting to petition his MatEcry to use the power
Hotthe pthaessoifn guon.fdtsh
ienH itsefofrisnhil n
to the 10/. franchise clause. Owing to the absence of the
Constable, the time for holding the meeting ianot yet fired.
Scotland has spoken out at length, baldly,
and in the face of day. Your true Scot is the most pa.
tient of all living creatures; but the insults and injuries
of his rulers may goad him, as history affirms, to gambols,
which they may rue he has borne mrleh and long, like
his brother, proud, passionate, boasting but honest, down.
right, free-hearted, open-handed Jo'.in Bull ; but there is a
Period to the endurance even of tie most patient of animals.
Bth have spoken out. They may yet be appeased, and
ail may he forgotten ; but, if their oppressors—the two-
long-endured rulers at the rust—instigated by a desire to
continue to *feed, vulture -like, on corruption, treat with
contempt the prayers of a united and suffering people—it
they resolve to moo them with the shadow of a represen-
tation—if they are determined to hold forth Gatton, and
Sarum,: and the Scotch burghs (under their present mode
of el. ction) as beauties and not as bkmishes of the elective
.ystem—if, in brief, they, in the blind spirit of infatuation,
dare to perpetuate on their necks the yoke of an oligarchy,
then they will find that there is a spirit abroad, not only i‘a
the South lint in the North, in the valley and on the W 1!.
in Lowland and Highland districts, by the river and by
the lake—a spirit which cannot by any possibility be ap-
peased without a liberal and generous offering of free re-
presentation. The meeting of the Edinburgh reformers
seems, from the accounts that have reached us, to have
been a magnificent affair. It took place in the King's
Park, near to the ancient palace of Holyrood ; from the
sindows of which, the exiled King of FKANCE might have
beheld another specimen of the working of that principle
which lie and his imbecile Ministry trusted they had the
power to put down. Every cheer frotn that meeting must
!rave fallen like a thunder-clap upon his ear, and aroused
those feelings in his mind and in his heart—those terrible
,inpultes which float on the surface of memory, and
" Which steep, undying, to all distant time
The deep damnation of a tyrant's crime!"
the assembled numbers of the Edinburgh meeting have
n:en calculated at sixty thousand, certainly the most nume-
rously attended meeting ever held in Scotland. The as-
semblage was of a highly respectable character, as most
7icotch meetings are, for the people, as it has keen truly
,bserved, go to them seriously and as a matter of business.
One fact will better serve to inform the readers of the
Journal of the political state of Scotland than a hundred
irgurnents. It was noticed by the venerable Sir Joax DAL-
RYMPLE, in the commencement of his speech, tha he had
•zever been upon nor seen such a thing as hustings in the
country before I— Wakefield Journal.
T
p.h —e iinherenereiatsaesn ch
upon his Witt- e
1_
Prince Wi I not 0 llteri
It is not said that
ce. -- The Parrot,
which
to London accompanied by his inhet Aarl
ls hjil.atshreefatinleilnlioutcs)bePepr.i7t-,et
n
h. believed that the Prince will settle them 1