The Sun.
London, England, 1828-10-24 00:00:00

KENT .COUNTY• MEETING.

PENENDEN'IIEATH, our. 24.

RESOLUT 1 ONS.

Resolved-1. That this Meeting of the Freeholders of
the county of Kent will support and maintain the princi-
pies, that placed the House of Brunswick on the Throne of
these realms.

2. That.those principles being founded:upon civil and
religious li:ierty, haveadvanced the power, wealth, and dig-
nity •of the 'Trnited Kingdom, to the most exalted station
amongst the nations of Europe, and have hitliet to preserved
its internal peace., by securing to al: its subjects their just
rights, privileges, and immunities.

S. That although at the revolution, in 1688, when.
King William ascended the throne, whose principles were,
under the peculiar circumstances of the times, founded
upon the total exdusioa of Papists-from all places, and ap-'
pointments of trust, power, and responsible service, yet it.
does not appear that the wisdom of our ancestors intended
that such exclusion should be permanent under alt the cir-
cumstances and in all situations ; and Parliament, acting
upon- that wise; conciliatory, and benignant plan, in the
year 1775, and again in 1791, and at the union with Ire-
land, repealed and abolished the greater put of the severe
penal code, under which the Roman Catholic population of
the United. Kingdom -existed and suffered.

4. That it appears suth concessions have occasioned no
detriment to the peace, security, and general welfare of
these realms; but that the accession of the. talents, zeal,
incluatry„en4 loyalty of,the Roman Catholics to the com-
mon cause of Mick country, have augmented its: resources;
secured its solid inckpeinience, and carried victory by its
arms, through the subject -ocean, to the most distant re-
gions of the KWh...
.8. That the astonishing events of the- last fifty years
have created a mighty change in the affairs of men, and
that it is no longer just, Wise, expedient, or even possible,
to withhold from seven millions 'of our fellow-subjects,
comprising one-third .of our population, any portion of
their civil rights and immunities ; and that the safety and
security of the Protestant Church of England will be far
better secured and provided for, by conciliating all classes
of tie King's Roman Catholic subjects in its defence, by
their. having one common cause.-the glory, hon Our, and
safety of their common country—to protect and maintain;
than by any system of force and compulsion the ingenuity
of man can invent, or his cruelty and wickeArress carry
into execution.

6. That the Protestant religion, secure in the divine
purity of its doctrinee, draWn froin the sacred sources of
inspiration in the Holy Scriptures, need not fear, in the
present enlightened state ,of human society, competition
with any other creed- whatever, Its best security is in the
heart of man ; tied its most powerful protectors, his hopes
of heaven hereafter.

7. That the large military force requisite to keep in
subjection the Catholic population of Ireland, and its enor-
mous expeuce, equal to the whole revenue, derived from
Ireland, in the present awful state both of the foreign and
domestic relations of the empire, loudly call upon Parlia-
ment to put an end to such a state of evil and misrule ;
and by adopting conciliatory plans to assuage her wrongs,
and bring back the brae, 'generous, proud•spirited. nation
of Ireland to a grateful sense of the value of her connexion
with Great Britain, and thus cement, by the most power•.
fulOf human ties, the real union of these- sister islands,
thus rendering the power of the United• Empire invincible
at horne,.and the arbiter,,refuge, and resource .of, the na-
tions of the earth.

S. That for the convintiUg reasons, tOunded on these
resolutions, the freeholders of the county of Kent do hereby_
resolve to present a petition, in
,tke spirit •thereof, to his
Most Gracious Majesty, praying him to be pleased to as-•
semble his Parliamei With the least possible diay, that
they may: take into iiieir most serious consiktition thw.;
%larinirlig,state of Ircilltd, ready for civil war ; r s popula-
tion in 4zostile array against eireb other ; and even distant
nations waiting for the cannon's roar to give the signal of
war and desolation, to join in separating that valuable and
most important portion of the British dominions from us
for ever.

9. That this petition be presented to his Majesty by the
High Sheriff, accompanied by the Marquis Camden, the
Lord Lieutenant, and all the Peers of Parliament attending
this meeting.

10. Tliit petitions founded on then resolutFons be pie-
isesited to both Housed of Parliament.

11. That the county members, and the members of the
cities, towns, boroughs, and cinque ports, of the county of
Kent, be most earnestly entreated to support, in. Parlia-
ment, such
.a system of conciliatory conduct towards the
Roman Catholics of Ireland, as may tend to pacify that
country, and secure the Protestant establishment in Church
and State, by removing the danger to both from the present
distracted‘state of the sister island.

12. That a copy of these reNutiona be sent to his Grace
the Duke of Wellington,' and to Mr. Peel, by the High
Sheriff.

1I 11D' OCT. 23.

This town at present is as tranquil as usual ; and, judg•
ing from appearances, a stranger ignorant of the fact would
hardly suppose its immediate neighbourhood was to-mor-
row to become the arena of a great political and religious
contest. The illiberals are said to have a majority here,
though the statement is doubtful. If it Ise true, Maidstone
has the unenviable distinction of being the only populous
town in the county in which bigotry and intolerance have
the ascendancy. In Canterbury and Rochester, the
Liberals are unquestionably the more numerous party, and
it is to the credit of most-of the clerical dignitaries of both
places, that they have remained passive; indeed, their in-
fluence,. if exerted, would have been inconsiderable. The
great strength of the Brunswickers is in the agricultural
districts, where intelligence is not much diffused, and
where the opinion and influence of the landlord are para-
mount. The party are aware of this, and hence most of
their appeals are addressed to the " Honest Grey-coats of
Kent," as they call the farmers. The Brunswickers are
not inactive. A printer of. this place was busily engaged
yesterday in printing placards with the words, " No
popery,,, in sixLinch letters. These were sent off by the
coaches and other conveyances, this morning, in ull direc-
tions, for the purpose of being posted. One man went up
to FOO6l Cray, by the six o'clock London coach, from
which place he was to work his way back, posting ita he
went. -

The Brunswkk dinner,' which was to have closed; and
given eclat to the business of to-morrow, is not to take
place. Penenden-heath, where the meeting is to be held, is
distant from the town rather more than a mile. The ap-
proach to it is along a retired lane: Its limits have been
gradually reduced by successive enclusurra, leaving an oblong
space of about a quarter of a mile..in the broadest part,
and nearly half a mile in length. About. the middle of
one side, and immediately in front of a plantation of. firs
and larches, stands a small wooden building, having every
appearance of a cow-house, but which is dignified with
the sounding title of the Shire-hall. It is about eighteen
feet square, and about ten feet high, with an opening
in front, and it is from this place that the aristocracy of
this great county ate to addreee the meeting to. morrow.
No other accommodation bas been provided. The build-
ing is in a most decayed state, not having been repaired
since the year 1781; the county and the successive sheriffs
since that period having been in dispute as. to whom
the onus fell upon. The question, there is ground for be-
lieving, has been recently decided by documentary evidence
against the county. It is in this broken-down building
that all
.county business is commenced ; but it has been
usual to adjourn thence into the town,—a course which
cannot well be adopted on the present occasion, from the
great numbers who are expected to attend. teaidee, the
gentry on a former occasion bad rather a rough specimen
of what the Men of Kent" could do when the subject
was an unpalatable one ; for when the corn-law question
an adjournment was made to the arket•
where m ut
they seized the waggons that Inkd been drawn
pwlaasce, agitated,
out to forth the hustings, dragged them through the town,
and set them swimming in the Medway ; indeed, one of
bridgeth actually flung over the parapet of the
crosses that stream. Owing to the inces-
e waggonswbiib they
tent rain which has been falling ever since last night, the
heath, although high ground, is very swampy, and if the
rain continued, its condition to-morrow will, after a little
trampling,
become dreadful. It would be presumptuous
in any person who had not had an opportunity of aster-
taining intimately the state of feeling and of party in every
village in Kent to attempt to predicate the issue of to-
morrow's meeting.
distributing bills in every direction.-
- Cobbett is down here, and has been