The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-04 00:00:00

PUBLIC MEETING IN NOTTINGHAM.

A public meeting of the inhabitants of this town took
place on Monday last, at the Exchange-rooms, to memorialise
the Government, in the present alarming state of affairs, to
open the ports.
The meeting was called for eleven in the forenoon, and
soon after that hour the room was crowded, and on the plat-
form we observed Thomas Herbert, Esq., Mayor ; Rev. W.
Mills, Rev. S. Jones, Rev. Wm. Linwood, Rev. Jos. Gilbert,
Rev. James Edwards, Rev. B. Carpenter, and Messrs. G.
Gill, Felkin, Bean, Hill, Wilson, Rideout, Cripps, Cooper,
Roberts, jun, J. Bradley, T. Knight, W. Enfield, Wm. Hol-
lins (I'leasley Works), Ellis (Mansfield), N. Hurst, jun.,
Allen, Roper, Whelby, &c.
The Mayor (Time. HERBERT. Esq.), on the motion of Mr.
Bean, seconded by Mr. Felkin, was unanimously called to
the chair, and on opening the business, after apologising
for the weakness of his voice, expressed his hearty concur-
rence
with the object for which the meeting had been con-
veiled, and he, therefore, on the requisition being pre-
sented, bad no hesitation in calling his fellow- townsmen
together.—(Applause.) It was not only in reference to the
present exigency, arising from the failure of the potato crop,
and a deficiency in the harvest, that he wished the ports to
' be opened, but upon a general principle, and lie hoped they
would be opened never to be closed again.—(Applause.)
Under existing circumstances, he was convinced, unless some
resourse was opened, the people of this country might look
forward with care and anxiety ; but he would not enlarge,
as other gentlemen were ready to speak at length upon the
E übject.—(Applanse.)
Mr. WHITBY, after an excellent speech, moved the follow-
ing resolution :
" That the deficiency of the harvest and the serious injury
to the potato crops, have deservedly produced the utmost
apprehension amongst all classes of the community, and that
our circumstances in particular require the instant free ad-
mission of corn and other articles of food into the ports of the
United Kingdom."
The motion being put was carried unanimously, with loud
applause and clapping of hands.
Mr. THOMAS ROPER, a working man, then moved that an
address be presented to our gracious and beloved Queen ; and
in bis speech he referred to his recollections conoerning the
state of trade before the corn-laws were enacted; the remon-
strances that were made, and in which ho took a part at the
time they were under, consideration; and the circumstances
of the corn-laws being passed at the mouth of the cannon.
At that time the President of America (Jeffersen) wished
. that their corn and provisions should be sent to this country ;
! and in Congress it was said, if the corn-laws were passed
here, the people of America would manufacture for themselves
there. They have become manufacturers, and our rivals.
He then moved the following address:—
" 'To Sir Robert Peel, Bart., First Lord of her Majesty's
Treasury.
" The Memorial of the inhabitants of the borough of
Nottingham
" Showetb,—That your memorialists contemplate with
deep interest the fearful augmentation of the existing dis-
tress with ',which the people of the United Kingdom are
threatened, in consequence of the deficiency of the late
harvest.
"That by the restriction on the importation of grain and
other articles of subsistence, not only do a considerable por-
tion of the community suffer from the want of sufficient sup-
port, but the home trade is seriously depressed, the people
having to expend in food what they would otherwise pay for
clothing, fuel, furniture, and for better places of habitation,
and that experience has shown that an abundant and cheap
supply of the first necessaries of life has been attended with
increased employment and a higher rate of wages.
"That your memorialists feel assured that a free trade in
food, especially with the United States of America, would
afilird us a large supply—would be highly advantageous to the
trade of this district, as well as to the interests of the com-
munity at large, and would exert a beneficial influence over
all the relations existing between the two countries.
"Tour memorialists earnestly represent, that effectual _ re-
lief,_
from the impending scucity and privation, can alone
obtained by immediately opening the ports of these kingdeon°l:
for the free admission of corn and other articl herod, and,,
therefore, urge upon you, Sir, as the sisa.d of Majesty a
Government, the imperative necessity of issuing an order in
Council for this purpose."
Which was pot and carried.

PUBLIC IN LEITH.
A public meeting,
tEllEedT h), requisition, was held
tb,in
on Monday afternoon. Provost
Hutchison was
Trinity House,
called to; the chair. He was supported by
a great proportion of the magistrates and council; by several
of the more influential inhabitants, and by the representa-
tive of the burgh, Andrew Rutherfurd, Esq.
The PROVOST stated that he had great pleasure in calling
the meeting, and hoped that the expression of feeling which
had been manifested so generally throughout the country,
would lead her Majesty's Ministers to throw open the ports
for the admission of foreign grain at this momentous crisis.
GEORGE BERRY, Esq., Chairman of the Leith Chamber of
Commerce, moved the first resolution. which was seconded
by the Rev. Dr. Harper, of Leith, one of the professors of
the United Secession Church. It was as follows—" That
this meeting is convinced that the country is now threatened
by a scarcity of the necessary food of tha people, which,
without wise and energetic measures, must resu't jp priva-
tion and great suffering of the people."