The Sun.
London, England, 1821-08-20 00:00:00

procession passed on to the Red Lion inn, where
the band continued playing at intervals during
the remainder of the afternoon. As the proces-
sion approached the town the numbers increased,
and in the square ite-was surroutqlettgby at...least
fire thousand persons..- The Committee had di-
irefited the sheerto be roasted ,whole, which
were afterwards taken 'to the various public
houses in the town, and distributed with a pro-
portionate quantity of bread and beer.
At five o'clock a numerous and respectable
party, consisting of about one hundred persons,
sat down to an excellent dinner, provided by Mr.
HOLDAWAY, of the Red Lion Inn. The tables
were decorated with much taste, with pyramids
supporting wreaths, and banners bearing various
emblematical devices, and the dinner and wines
were highly creditable to Mr. HOLDAWAY. The
chair vrat• very ably filled by Mr. JOHN ATK INSON,
who acted for his, father, 11. C. ATKINSON, Esq.,
and his convivial powers kept the interest of the
company alive, and the happy strain of eloquence
with which he prefaced the various toasts, and
the manly, and independent sentiments which he
expressed, reflected equal credit on the heart and
talents of the speaker, and gave universal satis-
faction to his hearers.

On the Chairman proposing the health of
" NATHAN' EL ATCHESON, Esq.," he addressed
the company to the following effect :—" Hav-
ing now completed the ttsual constitutional
toasts, it becomes my pleasing duty to propose
to you one in which our private and best feel-
ings are concerned—thus endeavouring to pay in
some degree a debt of gratitude due to our
excellent friend on my right, whose return
amongst us we are this day met to cele-
brate. When we review the circumstances
of the last three years, it is impossible for me to
express in adequate terms our applause and ad-
miration at what has been accomplished, and
the liberal manner in which it has been executed,
feeling, as you all must do, that you were
possessed of Chartered Rights, and that for a
century you had, been labouring under an usur-
pation and a system of petty tyranny, by the
agents and friends of the Borough Patron, as dis-
graceful as unconstitutional, and which,-if not
for the abundant proof, would not be believed
in the present enlightened .state of society. But,
thanks be to Providence, and the unwearied exer-
tions and perseverance of our excellent Friend,
the spell is now broken, and the Committee
of Appeal have restored our rights, by de-
ciding that the Freeholders of every descrip-
tion, and without any, restriction, possess the
elective franchise, thereby enabling every Gen-
tleman whom I have now the honour to ad-
dress, who is not a Freeholder, to qualify him-
self, and to become a guardian in his own peryon
of the most important of an Englishman's rights,
the power of electing his own Representative.
Gentlemen, I presume you are anxious to even
anticipate the name I am about to propose, and
when all are aware of the truth of my observa-
tions, it would be injustice to detain you ; I have
therefore to request you will join me in this
bumper of wine, and drink the health of our friend
NATHANI EL ATCHESON, Esq.,with every wish that
he may be ...lessed with health,andthat he may long
reside amongst us and enjoy the victory achieved
by his extraordinary exertions."
Mr. AtcursoN's health was then drank with
three times three, followed by reiterated cheer-
ing and loud and continued plaudits.
Mr. ATCHESON rose and returned thanks
for the honour which had been conferred upon
him. He said that his reception that day
by the Freeholders of Petersfield had made
an impression upon his heart which could never
be effaced. Their kind support had stimulated
him to perseverance and exertion in a cause,
which, by many who were ignorant of the
facts of the case, had been considered as despe-
rate; but it was with no small degree of pride
that he now looked' back and contemplated the
difficulties which had been overcome, the pre-
dictions which bad been disappointed, and the
triumph which had been gained,a triumph the more
gratifying, as it dispelled a baneful and injurious
influence that had too long depressed the best
energies of the town, and sunk it from a state of
great political as well as commercial importance,
to its present condition ; for there was evidence
that Petersfield, many years ago, before the
Lords of the Manor assumed that power which
they had so injuriously exercised, was a place
of considerable wealth, and a great manufactur-
ing town, and that in the reign of Ring James the
First, it maintained upwards of a thousand per-
sons in the manufacture of woollen cloths. He
assured them that the confidence which they
had reposed in him, and the zealous and
steady attachment which they had displayed, an at-
tachment which no promises or threats had been
able to shake, imposed upon him a debt of gratitude
which it would ever be most gratifying to him to en-
deavour to repay. Whatever services he could ren-
der the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Bo-
rough, collectively or individually, he should at
all times be most happy to offer, as a small
return for the kind attentions which he
had invariably received from them. He look-
ed forward with confidence to the time
when he should have the honour of being
their Representative in Parliament, and when
that period arrived, he could only say, that he
should ever steadily endeavour to promote, to the
utmost of his power; the local interests of the
town, and to act up to the principles which had
ever regulated his conduct; and he concluded by
thanking them once more for the very kind and
gratifying manner in which they had drank his
health and received him on his return to the
Borough.

The CHAIRMAN then gave the following
toasts :—" Colonel JouN CAMAC"—" The an-
cient Borough of Peterstield, and perpetuity to
its Independence"—" The Freeholders of Peters-
tield, who have promoted, and ever will support,
the cause of Freedom"—and " ROBERT ATCIIE-
SON, Esq." These toasts were all drank with
the greatest applause.—The CHAIRMAN then rose
and stated, that having, by the kindness of the
Committee, been deputed to perform a duty which
was highly gratifying to him, and upon the per-
formance of which he should always look back
with fee!izgs of pride and satisfaction, they had