The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-15 00:00:00

PARLIAMEN TAR Y REFORM.

The first metropolitan mpeOng of the National
Charter Association was held 'last evening, at the
London Tavern, and was most numerously attended.
The great room of' the tavern was densely crowded,
and amongst those on the platform we noticed Messrs.
Arnott, Clark, Ilarney, Kydd, Dilcor, Reynolds,
M‘Grath, Grassby, Stanwood, and other active mem-
bers of the Chartist Association ; Mr. Feargus O'Con-
nor, M.P., was called-to the chair.
Mr. T. CLARK, who officiated as secretary to the
meeting, then read the following address :
" THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE TO THE CHARTISTS OF
GREAT BRITAIN.
" Friends and Brethren,—We avail ourselves of
the opportunity afforded by the first grand metropo-
litan meeting held under our administration, to afford
you some idea of that policy which we intend to
adopt for the purpose of imparting vigour to the
cause of resuscitating Chartism ; and by this spon-
taneous readiness on our pat: to give an account of
our stewardship at so early a day afrer our election
to office, as well as by the plans we are about to
make known to you, we believe that we are affording
the country the best possible preof that no time has
been wasted in entering seriously, actively, and
energetically upon the important duties entrusted
to us.
" In the first place, we hare directed our attention
to the propriety of holding several grand metropolitan
meetings, at the largest places that can be obtained
for such assemblage ; and also in localities the inha-
bitants of which have not hitherto been much accus-
tomed to hear anything of Chartism save through the
studied, intentional, and unwearied misrepresentation
of the principal newspapers of the day. Whether we
have commenced our series of great meetings in a
fitting place, and a proper neighbourhood, we must
leave those who are acquainted with the London
Tavern, and who are aware that it is in the very
heart of London, to decide.
"In the second place, we are about to promulgate
to the country, at an early day, a system for local
organization ; and this will be the very first measure
to which we propose to direct our attention in the
course of the ensuing fortnight.
"Thirdly, we have it in contemplation to hire
upon lease some large, commodious, and well-suited
place of meeting, where weekly assemblages may be
held, and where lectures may be delivered ; and
should it prove difficult to obtain such a place as may
be in all respects suitable for the purposes named, we
propose to negotiate with a builder for the erection of
a Chartist hall, in a spot conveniently central.
" Fourthly, we have already deliberated, and shall
shortly renew, the discussion upon the propriety of
calling a conference to assemble in London, in the
middle of the month of March, for the purpose of
giving additional vigour to the Chartist movement,
and affording the people's real representatives, thus
chosen, an opportunity of proclaiming the require•
ments and interests, the demands and the rights, o:
the industrious classes, at the same time that the re
presentatives of aristocracy, capital, and landed inte
rest, are assembled at St. Stephen's.

"Fifthly, we purpose to make arrangements for
the publication and gratuitous distribution of tracts,
written in a plain and calmly argumentative style, so
that the wrongs and sufferings of the masses may be
expressed at the same time that the remedies may be
suggested ; and that the people generally may be well
prepared to make a worthy use of those rights and
privileges of which it is hoped they will soon become
the possessors.
" Sixthly, we have resolved to place ourselves in
communication with the democrats of Ireland, and
solicit their co-operation in the great moral struggle
which the unrepresented and enslaved masses inEng-
lsnd, Scotland, awl Wales, have undertaken against
aristocratic tyranny, class-legislation, and oligarchical
oppression. _ .

Seventhly, we shall Bpi eal to the democrats in
the colonies to unite their voices with those of their
suffering brothers and sisters in the mother country ;
and we shall assure the dwellers in those misgoverned
portions of the empire, that they have our warmest
sympathies and must give us theirs in return.
"Eighthly, we have resolved to call upon the great
cities and towns of E 'gland and Scotland to adopt
immediate measures for the furtherance of the good
cause by a vigorous and energetic, though graceful,
legal, and moral agitation, for the People's Charter.
We invite our friends and brethren in those cities
and towns to develope as speedily, and as fervidly as
possible, all the resources of which local effort is
capable, and which neither menace public tranquillity
nor violate the law. We recommend large meetings
to be called; and, under suitable arrangements, we
propose that deputations from your provisional com-
mittee should visit those places where their services
would be useful.

" This is the outline cf the policy unanimously
adopted by your provisional committee. If the
Chartists of the metropolis, and the provinces, will
support us, we have no doubt of our ability to carry
into
give Chartism such an imposing
the
Plans just shadowed forth. The
result execution
b
attitude a 3 it never has assumed before; and with
t
the middle classes agitating fur reform on the one
e allo
hand, and the industrious classes sustaining their own
grand,
enlightened, and majestic movement on the
other, no considerable length of time can elapse ere
monopolisers of power and oppressors of all kinds
shall be forced to abandon their strongholds, and
yield to the voice of justice and the pressure of truth.
«Signed by the Provisional Committee,
JOHN ARNOTT "G. JULIAN HARNEY
" THOMAS CLARK "S. M. KYDD
" WILLIAM DIXON " PHILLIP APGRATIL
" JAMES GRASSBY "G.W M. REYNOLTS
"EDMUNDSTALLWOOD.

" January 14th, 1850."

Toe CHAIRMAN then 103 e, and after some prelimi-
nary observations pphreoacre.e)ded to declare that the
meeting before him was a proof that if Chartism was
struck down to-day, it might remain so for a while,
in its
Yesmight
a a again, ai
Chartismn , when
wasit s
timebut ietawmoeu.—ld(iriseear,n
alive and stirring.—(Rear, hear.) Sir J. Walmsley
declared to his constituents at Bolton the other day
that he accepted the Charter.—(Hear, hear.) Was
that nothing ? In a fortnight from Thursday the
show would be open again, and such a contest would
be seen as never was witnessed beige. Did they
suppose that he was going to abandon a single bristle
ionfdtuheee
hm
animalito stotansupport anyway poafratvny, Ministerial or
Protectionist ? No, neither ambition or self would
orders.—(Hear, hear.) He sympathised w
Poles, the Hungarians' and the Italians, but he felt,
to
to h those
the
as Shakspere said---"If England cannot keep back
the dog from her door, let her be worried"—(Cheers)
—and therefore that Englishmen should be true to
themselves first In 1834, he declared that free trade
would not do unless the land was thrown open, and
he would oppose the Free-traders now, if it had not
been that they had turned to the plan of the Chartists
for free trade in land. The millowners had not come
forward to join the new movement, because they
knew they made more profit of the people's labour
than some landlords did.—(Cheers.) He never before
felt more anxiously on the subject of Chartism. his
mind was full of thought for them, and Chartism was
his night dream—(Cheers)--but then
their hweagcoeus,lditseaet
hwaealldesnsotruagchk tehffat millownerathweeekeek. On
employing 2,000
once made for himself 2001. a w
he met Mr. Cobden at Aylesbury. He did not go
there to meet Mr. Cobden, but to see it the great
Baron Munchausen, Mr. Disraeli, would be there.—
(Laughter.) On that occasion Mr. Cobden Carrie
a resolution which amounted in effect to universal
suffrage.—(Hear, hear.) He (the Chlirmaa) wa4
well received by the meeting, and proved that the
views which he enunciated in respect of the conduct
of the landlords towards their tenants was appreciated
by his hearers. The object of his lite was to
make free trade useful to the great body of the people,
and what they waned was to bring the land into
the retail market.—(Hear.) They would soon have
Parliament opened, and he would tell them what they
might expect there. Every Minister wished for a cr.)
to go to the country. Lord John Russell would bring
in a Bill to extend the suffrage in this country and in
Ireland. It would pass the Common., but the Lard:.
would throw it out, and the extension of the suffrage
would be the cry to go to the country With.—(hear.)
He might be asked why he assumed to himself the
leadership of the Chartists. He had his authority
there on parchment, which was given to him by the
representative of the Chartist body in 1835, and for
15 years he had acted as the leader of the Chartists
Let him tell them the reason why they did not effect
an extension of the suffrage before now. It arose from.
their own disunion.—(Hear.) The trades and the unions
differed, because one man could get 305. a week, while
another could only earn 103. But if they all worked to-
gether they would soon be in a position.to earn 31. A week.

Look at the state of the franchise in Middlesex for
instance. 1,500,000 persons only returned two
members of Parliament, while the same number
spread over several boroughs, returned 246 Members.
—(Hear, hear, and Shame.) Shame. Aye, but it
was their fault, because they were not united.—
(Elear, hear.) Tney ought to act differently. They
oughteto seek by every means to obtain an extension
of the franchise, for without it they could do nothing.
What was the use of reducing the expenditure of the
country by twenty millions ? They would be no
bettor off afterwards, unless they were fully repre-
sented.—(flear, hear.) What principle then was
better than that every man of 21 years of age, of
sound intellect, and untainted by critnc•, should be
entitled to vote for a representative ? What they
wanted was to effect their object by constitutional
mean.. They did not want revolutions, fir revolu-
tions only ended in promoting the objects of the high
and middle class people to the prejudice cf the great
body of the people.—(Hear, hear.) The Chairman,
after referring to the necessity of entire freedom in
the land, called on the meeting to act firmly together,
closing his speech with these lines :
" Unite, unite, ye Chartists brave,
Let the land your watchword be;
Sc out, scout the servile slave
That crouches when he may be free.
Up, ye heroes, at the despots,
Lick no more the despot's hand;
Leave your pauper workhouse mess-pots,
Live like freemen on your land.
Then free-trade will be a blessing,
When men can work, and cat, and play,
When shepherds cease to live by floecing,
Then each flock its own will pay."
—(Great cheers.)
Mr. G. W. M. REYNOLDS rose to move the first re-
solution, which was as follows :—" That in the opi-
nion of this meeting the alarming and downward ten-
dency of the labouring and general industrial inte-
rests of the United Kingdom and the colonies is the
result of the present unjust and unequal system of Go-
vernment, promoting as it does the corrupt interests
of a small faction at the expense of the people at
large; and that this meeting expresses its deliberate
conviction that the only safe and effectual remedy for
the colonies is independent responsible government,
and for the United Kingdom such a change of our
representative system as will place the House of
Commons under the direct control of the nation, and
by the admittal of the entire male adult population
within the pale of the electoral franchise, and which
would be accomplished, most satisfactorily to this
meeting, by the enactment of the People's Charter as
the basis of a future constitution." He gave his
hearty adhesion to this resolution, and he begged to
express his feeling of delight at seeing that over-
flowing meeting. Heaven knew that reform was
necessary, when they saw that poverty was stamped
on the faces of nine-tenths of the people. The Chair-
man said that Lord J. Russell would bring in a Bill
to extend the franchise. They might depend upon it
the reforms in that respect would be of the most
limited description. An attempt might be made to
save the aristocracy, but the aristocracy were on their
last legs, and they would fall by their own weight.
After referring to the result of the revolution in
France, and having expressed a belief that the prin-
ciple of democracy would yet be high in the ascend-
ant, and that kings and emperors would fall before its
power, and such men as Kossuth and Mazzini would
return to their respective countries, Mr. Reynolds
proceeded to observe, that if England opposed herself
to the spirit of liberalism abroad, she would suffer in
her power, for America would take from her Canada,
and other of her colonies, while France would invade
Ireland, and thus the British people would be left
isolated in their own island. He then observed upon
the state to which the great body of the people was
reduced, thousands and thousands ( f whom were to
be found seeking shelter either in the gaol or the
workhouse. The only cure for this state of things
was the extension of the suffrage, as suggested by the
People's Charter. Mr. Reynolds here complained
of the large sum paid to the Qtee'en and Pi ince
Albert, and asked them if they were satisfied at
King Leopold having 50,0001. a year from them ?
(Hear)—or at the King of amover having 27,0001.
a year from this country ?—(Hear, hear.) Could
they wonder that the people desired republics when
such things as these took place ?—(Hear, hear.) He
called on them to oppose themselves to those laws that
upheld the aristocratic principle. Let them agitate
ind clamour to widen the doors of the Muse of
Common, and if they obtained universal suffrage and
the other points of the Charter, this end would be
effected.—(H-ar, hear.) It they gave in their adhe-
4ion to those principles, the time was not far distant
when there would not be a hungry person in this
;rest kingdom.—(flear.)
Mr. latGaaTts seconded the resolution, and ex-
pressed his satisfaction at the appearance of that great
meeting, assembled, as it was, to hold up the banner
of the People's Charter to the admiring eyes of the
Chartists of the country.—(Neer.) The National
Association was formed to carry out the object of the
Charter, and they wanted the aid of people to carry
out the purpose which they had in view. They were
about to make a grand effort to pull down the cor-
rupt system which had existed for so long a time
in this country, and to rear upon it the solid and
substantial structure of liberty.—(Hear, hear.)
The resolution said that the country had a dove n-
ward tendency. There could be no doubt of this
feet, for the wages of the people testified to it in the
fullest manner.—(Hear, hear.) This state of the
people originated either in the existence of bad laws

or the want of good ones—consequently all this re-
sulted from class legislation.—(Hear, hear.) The
resolution also referred to the colonies, and he was,
therefore, justified in observing that the colonies
were dissatisfied at the manner in which they were
governed by this country, and he need only instance
the East Indies as a proof of the faulty system pur-
sued by this country in respect to the countries de-
pendent upon her. He next referred to the question
of protection, and asked what protection would
Disraeli or Stanhope give them ? Just the same
protection that the wolf would give to the lamb.—
(Hear, hear.) The remedy fur the present state of
things was not a return to prohibit, as a reimposi-
tion of the corn-laws would be prejudicial to the
real interests of the people. In conclusion, he
would only observe that while he would advise
them to take all the advantages they could get from
Parliament by assistance of other persons, yet it
would be their duty to stand by themselves, and carry
out the great obligations which they as Chartists had
in view,—(Rear.)
Mr. VBRNON, described es a Chartist victim, then
came forward to support the resolution, and was loudly
cheered. He supported the Charter, because it would
be the means by which great things could be effected
tor the people. Tney wanted a rev olution for the
benefit of the people. He trusted it would be a
moral one, and he could only say that he would be
ready to aid them to work out that end whenever
called upon to do so.

Mr. I:LARNE; in supporting the resolution, said he
was one of those who had no confidence in the Na-
tional Reform Association movement. lie admitted
that the plan of reform put forth by that society ap-
proximated closely upon that put forth by the Chartists,
but it had in it the flaw of the money qualification,
for it made the payment of the rates a necessary con-
sequence upon the right to vote. Then the payment of
Members was not upheld by is —and until the work-
ing classes were represented by Members of their own
body, their interest would not be fairly upheld in the
[louse of Commons. And how could the working men
go to Parliament without they were paid ? At the same
time he had no objection to these gentlemen succeed-
ing, for then the great charter would fallow, and the
people would never be satisfied until they possessed
universal suffrage. He could not face Ernest Jones
And the other victims of the Charter if he gave his
support to any principle short of the Charter._
(llear.)'lie admitted that revolutions had not tended
very much to exalt the condition of the people, but
still the people of France had obtained a power which,
.f it was continued to them a few years longer, would
enable them to overthrow Louis Napoleon, Theirs,
and all the other rascals in France, restore the exiled
patriots to their country, and establish the Red Re-
public.—(Hear, hear.) If Louis Napoleon succeeded
in overthrowing the Republic, and placing himself
in the palaces of the Bourbon, still he (Mr. Harney)
would not despair of France, for if he allowed the
principle of universal suffrage to exist, it would
in the end, overthrow him, and as tht
French nation moved they moved, the nation
generally would imitate the example set them, and
republics would rise up all over the world.—(Hear.)
The Chairmen said they ought to have a free trade it.
land, but he protested against land being made a
question of sale and bargain ; for the lend was Ott
oroperty of the people, and ought to be held in trust
for them by the Government.—(llear.) He thee
referred to the case of the colonies, and said they
ought to be allowed to govern themselves. If this
were dune, the colonies would be improved, and.
joining hand in hand with the mother country, they
would go down to posterity as one family. Mr.
limey then took a review of the foreign policy ot
this country, and contended that Lord Paltnerstor
was to blame for sacrificing the honour of this country
to treaties which were not in accordance with the
wishes or feelings of the people.—(Hear.)
4inn supported the reaolution in an energetic .