The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-06 00:00:00

ANTI-LEAGUE MEETING AT
CHESTERFIELD,
DEFEAT OF THE MONOPOLISTS.

Mr. Maynard, Mr. Pegge Burnell, Mr. Bagshaw, Mr.
Milnes, Mr. Meynell, Mr.. Robert Arkwright (all of them
Tory magistrates), a parson Horton, a Mr. Barrow, and one
or two others, have been trying_ o get up a " demonstration"
against the League at Chesterfield, and a most farcical pro-
ceeding it was. After beating about for some time for requi-
sitionists, twelve pliant spirits were found in the persons of
two freeholders (one of them lately agent to Mr. Arkwright),
several cattle-jobbers, and two publicans ! With this funny
mixture, the machinery was set in motion. A requisition,
inviting "owners and occupiers of land, tradesmen, and
others," to attend the meethvyym published, and a regular
• canvass set on foot-to "'Work up" a good 'Waster.- Many of
the Duke of Devonshire's tenants in the Scarsdale Hundred
(for be it observed, the squires dare not call a meeting of the
whole division of North Derbyshire), were waited upon, and
every means used to decoy them to the meeting,
•under the
plea that it was not a political matter. But the Duke's
tenants were too wide awake. They looked at the instigators
of the plan, and saw through the whole proceeding; so re-
solved to absent themselves altogether. Not one of the
great landed proprietors of North Derbyshire was present at
the meeting, and the whole proceeding was thoroughly dis-
countenanced by them.
The hour appointed for the meeting was two o'clock, at
which the aforenamed gentry, attended by perhaps fifty or
sixty of their tenants, " and others," made their appearance,
and huddled themselves about the table. Had they been
left to themselves, the hall would have presented a cold,
cheerless spectacle, and there would have been a beggarly
account of empty benches. Butt so happened, that a long-
headed farmer named Lee, whoesides at Kelstage, and who
had a bundle of " facts and figures" under his arm, together
with several intelligent and independent tradesmen of the
town, resolved on moving an amendment (though there does
' not seem to have been an organised opposition), and though
the monopolists refused to receive the amendment, they were
signally routed.
Shortly after two o'clock, the hall became densely crowded,
and the two first speakers were listened to with attention.
When the mover and seconder of the resolution had finished
their " say," Mr. Hurst rose to propose the first amendment.
This was the signal for an uproar. The monopolists (some of
whom had whips and sticks) hooted, stamped, hissed, and
knocked the table, in order to drown Mr. Hurst's voice.
There were indignant cries of " Shame," "Turn 'em out,"
and so on, from the bulk of the assemblage, and the war of
voices raged for a considerable time.
At length Mr. Hurst succeeded in making himself partially
heard, and called upon . the Chairman to say whether, this
being a public meeting, to which all classes were specially in-
vited, he had not a right to be heard.
The Chairman (Mr. Clay) replied in the negative, and one
or two bigoted squires, who made themselves notorious, voci-
ferated, " You shan't be heard, we'll not allow you !"
Mr. Hurst—Oh, it is a bad cause indeed that will not bear
scrutiny.—(Tremendous cheering.)
The Chairman put the resolution, for which about fifty or
sixty hands were held up ; and Mr. Sayer then called upon
him to put the negative. The Chairman refused, and the
refusal was received with hooting and hisses. A person,
however, in the body of the meeting, called for an expression
of opinion, when the great bulk of the assembly held up
their hands and negatived the resolution, amidst tremendous
cheering, by .3 or 4to 1. The Chairman, however, refused
to receive the vote, and declared the resolution carried, stat-
ing that he should not put the negative to any of the resolu-
tions, as the meeting was called for the purpose of adopting,
not of rejecting, measures, &c.—(Hooting.)—[An attempt
was made to make it appear that many persons who were
favourable to the resolution held up their hands against it by
mistake! But this not only did not, but could not, happen,
for the matter was distinctly understood.]
Mr. Sayer, Mr. Hurst, and others protested against this
course ; and there were loud cries for Mr. Sayer, who essayed
to speak, but the contention between the rival parties was
so boisterous that scarcely a word he uttered could be heard.
Mr. Bagshawe moved the second reistikition, but was
heard very impatiently, in consequence of.the opposition to
Mr. Sayer. He made a rambling
_defence of the corn-laws,
and was frequently interrupted by witty - ejaculations. He
attacked the Anti-Corn-law League in strong terms, and
for so doing was hooted down.
The remaining speakers went through their work some-
but not a tyllahla thoy uttered wee hoard. The resolu-
tions were hurried over, and the three last were not put to
the meeting at all. So anxious were the monopolists to
scramble through them, that they altogether forgot to pro-
pose a vote of thanks to the Chairman, and they made a pre-
cipitate retreat into the grand jury-room, whither they
beckoned their handful of supporters to sign the petitions,
amidst hissing, and hooting, and groans.
Mr. Sayer was then voted to the chair, amidst loud cheer-
ing, but before he had time to reach the allotted place, Mr.
Maynard, Mr. Mimes,
the afore-named parson, and several
others, rushed to the chair, of which they took forcible pos-
session ; whereupon Mr. Hurst, Mr. Lee, and others, told
them some very unpalateable truths, and a long recrimination
took place. Ever and anon three cheers broke forth for
Cobden and the League, and in the course of the proceedings
three cheers were given for the Duke of Devonshire (whose
liberal sentiments in regard to civil, religious and commercial
freedom, are well known.
• After a badgering of nearly
an hour longer, the opponents
of monopoly determined on calling a counter-meeting, and
on inviting Mr. Cobden, and then left the Hall, the proceed-
ings, having lasted nearly three hours.
Meanwhile, the screw will be put on, and many who would
" rather not" will be compelled to sign the petitions.
Not a single sixpence was subscribed at the meeting. The
monopolists growl terribly at their defeat, though an attempt
will be made to represent the demonstration as a " triumph-
ant one." We wish
all monopolists many such triumphs !

COUNSEL AT SESSIONS.
(From the Municipal and Poor-law Gazette.)
Our readers will find, under the head " Administration of
Justice," an account of a scene, which the reporter of the
Times rightly describes as extraordinary The grand jury, at
the Middlesex Sessions at Clerkenwell, found true bills
against the occupierSof seventeen houses of ill-fame, all within
the Strand Union. Mr. Corder, the clerk of the Strand Union
had the conduct of the business ; and being a zealous man, a
member of an Inn of Court, and thoroughly conversant with
the law which regards his office, seems to have judged it
proper to pass over the counsel usually practising at Clerken-
well, and to give a brief to Mr. Pashley, a barrister, who is a
stranger there, but in Mr. Corder's judgment, a more com-
petent lawyer. Now, Mr. Prendergast, Mr. Ballan tine, and
a few other barristers are in possession of almost the whole
practice at Clerkenwell, and of a good share of that at the
Old Bailey. It is not every barrister who can or would suc-
ceed in these Courts ; and the few who do so are more than
usually jealous of their monopoly-, and use it in a fashion of
despotism and caprice towards their clients which it will be
our duty to illustrate on some other occasion. Mr. Prender-
gast has the reputation of being a great proficient in the
language and other accomplishments more peculiar to these
Courts, and his power over a timid prosecutor or witness
may be inferred from that which he brought to bear, on the
present occasion, upon Sir J. Hamilton, one of the Justices of
pthreefßereanchc,onwtleisot, hwith the biisasepkigruita,
rwdsillindotuhbetldeoscskh, hereafter
prefer
with a gentleman of the Clerkenwell bar. The barristers who
flourish in the hot atmosphere of Clerkenwell do not thrive
in that of Westminster Hall. They seek to establish a prin-
ciple of compensation for this disadvantage. Nature and
education shut them out from Westminster Hall ; it behoves
them, therefore, to barricade themselves the more securely
inderkenwell. Recently the monopoly of two or three
barristers at the Old Bailey has been broken up by the ap-
pearance there of a barrister of great natural talents, against
whom all the arts which desperation and failing bread sug-
gest had been practised in vain. Such might be, or may be,
the result at Clerkenwell, where, although it has been
wonderfully little in use, a knowledge of law would unques-
tionably give a new rival a dangerous advantage over the
established men. Mr. Pashley is a successful sessions lawyer,
as those who read the reports of sessions cases argued in the
Court of Queen's Bench may well know ; and it was, there-
fore, a most flagrant attack by Mr. Corder on the interests
of the established Clerkenwell bar, to bring Mr. Pashley to
their sessions.
It may now be seen why Mr. Prendergast took on him-
self the defence of the keepers of the seventeen brothels,
without being retained by them: why he suddenly finds.
that Mr. Corder's briefs, which had never been objected to
before, cannot now be held : why he rises as amicus curia,
and shows his amiable disposition towards the Court by the
singular earnestness of his compliments to Sir J. Hamilton ;
and why all the bar of Clerkenwell, by their other mouth-
piece, 111 r. Payne, testify to their conviction that Mr.
Pashley could not be heard upon Mr. Corder's instructions,
and that Mr. Corder was acting illegally in depriving some
regular attorney of his fees.
There is no doubt, that in point of law Mr. Prendergast and
the other counsel were in the right—and that clerks of
boards of guardians, and vestry clerks, are no longer com-
petent to act in matters of litigation for their unions and
parishes as they have done. But the Clerkenwell bar gene.,
rally displays great equanimity when mistakes in law are made,
and they were never known before to object to briefs from
whatever source they came ; and our readers, therefore, with-
out our explanation, might have been unable to account for
the mystery of their extraordinary excitement in the present
case.
In reference to the subject of the above remarks, we under-
stand that the promoters of the Attorneys' Bill of last session
had no intention to deprive the non-professional clerks of
boards of guardians, of the power to make applications to
justices on behalf of their boards; and that it is intended to
restore to them the power by means of a clause to be inserted
in the Poor-law Amendment Bill, now in its passage through
the House of Commons.

„ ---
ARABIC SUPERSTITION.—AIRIIOITIet is said to have
possessed a tame pigeon, which he taught secretly to eat out
of his ear, in order that his followers might believe him,
through means of this bird, to receive some divine communi-
cations. Sandys observes, in his ” Travels," that there are
still a multitude of doves about Mecca, preserved and fed
with great care and superstition, being thought to be of the
breed of that dove which spate in the ear of Mahoraet.

awl. tus