The Sun.
London, England, 1829-02-23 00:00:00

S11t:II:1ELa GENERAL MEETING.

(From the Leeds Mercury.)
On Friday, one of the most numerous meetings
ever held in Sheffield, under the sanction of the chief
authority of the town, took place, for the purpose of-
considerin,r the propriety of petitioning the two
Houses of Paili•:meet on tl:e subject of th& Catholic
Claims. The meeting was held in consequence of
the following requisition and notice ;

" TO JAMES CRAWSIIAW, ESQ., TIIE MASTER CUTLER.

" A private meeting having been convened for the pur-
pose of addressing the King, and petitioning both Houses
of Parliament against the admission of Roman Catholics to
legislative and political power, which meeting is confined
to those only..rho concur in opinion with the conveners :
we, the undersigned, respectfully request you to call a public
meeting of the inbabitatits of the town and-neighbourhood
of Sheffield, fur the purpose of petitioning both Houses of
Parliament for the removal of all civil disabilities on account
of religious faith and worship, and for the extension of civil
and religious liberty toall classes of his Majesty's subjects :
" S. BROOKES, " NATHL. PHILIPS,
" OFFLEY SHORE,

" RICHARD GREAVES,
" EDW. BARKER, " JOSEPH ATKINSON,
PARKER, .
" SAMUEL BAILEY,

" JAMES WILD,

" BENJAMIN SAYLE,

" T. STIRLING,

LUKE PA LFREYDIAN,

" ARNOLD JAS. KNIGHT, " T. WRIGHT,
If _ -

" ROBERT RODGERS, "J. S. BRAMHALL,
" EDWARD 24 ANSON, " EDWARD GREA YES,
" PETER mix, " JOAN FAWCETT,

" JOHN SYKES, " JOSEPH SENIOR,
"F. W. EvEttErr. " FRANCIS HOOLE.
" In pursuance of the above requisition, I hereby con-
vene a public meeting of the inhabitarts of the town and
neighbourhood of Sheffield, to be held at the Town-hall, in
Sheffield, on Friday at l 2 o'clock preci,ely, for the purpose
therein mentioned.
" JAMES CRAWSIIAW, Master Cutler.

" Feb. 19."
Soon after eleven o'clock the_gates of the Town-
hall, leading to the upper room, were thrown open
and the rush was tremendous. As the appointed
hour for commencing the meeting drew near, the
room was filled almost to suffocation; and when the
Master Cutler took the chair, at 12 o'clock, a loud
cry of "adjourn, adjourn," was immediately raised,
as well within as on the outside of the hall. This
request was promptly complied with, and as soon as
the meeting had been opened pro forma, an adjourn-
ment into Paradise-square was immediately an-
nounced. This square forms a kind of amphitheatre,
with a spacious flight of stone steps on the lower
•side,. which served for hustings ; and the area of
the square is capable of containing upwards of
10,000 persons. At the commencement of the
meeting, the number assembled amounted to about
5,000, but about one o'clock that number was
swelled to about 7,000, many of them consisting of
the first merchants, manufacturers, and other prin-
cipal inhabitants of the place; and the deportment
of the persons congregated being the_ most orderly
we ever witnessed in so large an assembly.
The MASTER CUTLER having re-stated the object
of the meeting,
HUGII PARKER, Esq., the senior magistrate of
the district, stepped forward to move the first reso-
lution, declaratory of " the propriety of Parliament
taking into their deliberate consideration, with a view
to repeal the laws which impose civil disabilities on
his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects." This re-
solution Mr. Parker supported in a luminous and
eloquent speech, in which he proved, on the highest
authority, that this measure, which had long been a
measure of justice and propriety, had now become
absolutely necessary, and that without it the func-
tions of Government could not be fulfilled.
OFFLEY SHORE, Esq. seconded the resolution.
Mr. BAILEY, one of the principal merchants in
Sheffield, delivered an eloquent and argumentative
speech on the same side of thy question; and
Mr. PALFRF.YMAN enforced and illustrated the ar-
guments of the preceding speakers, in
.a very power-
ful appeal to the assembly in favour of the Catholic
claims.
The CHAIRMAN then - put the resolution, when
almost every hand in the assembly appeared to be
held up in its favour; but not satisfied with this
demonstration of public feeling, he called for a show
of hand; on the part of those who were of a different
-opinion : when about 20 individuals signified their
dissent, a loud and spontaneous burst of applause
issued from every, part of the meeting, and produced
one of the most gratifying scenes, when combined
with the occasion by which it was elicited, that we
ever beheld.
The Rev. H. S. MILNER, LL.D., another of the
magistrates of the districts, row stepped forward,
and in a speech replete with candour and forcible
argument, moved the following petition to the House
of Commons, and a similar petition, mutatis mutant-
dis, to the House of Lords :
" To the Honourable the Commons of the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament as-
sembled..
" The Petition of the Inhabitants of the Town and Neigh-
bourhood of Sheffield, in the West Riding of the
County of York,
" Showeth, That your petitioners, deeply sensible of
the blessings of religious liberty, and impressed with the
wisdom as well as justice of extending them to all his Ma-
jesty's subjects, regard with lively satisfaction the reciam7
mendation of his Majesty to your Honourable House, to
review the laws imposing civil disabilities on the Roman
Catholics of the United Kingdom, and they pray your
Honourable House to follow up the measure so graciously
recommended from the Throne, by passing a Bill for the re-
moval of all disabilities imposed on account of religious
opinions and worship ; assured that it will be the extinc-
tion of a-prolific source of irritation and discord, and that
the establishment of a just equality in civil rights will tend
to create peace, good-will, mid union throughout the em-
pire, and conduce to the stability of the Constitution, as
well as to the ultimate welfare, prosperity, and satisfaction
of all classes of his Majesty's subjects.
" And y.ur petitioners will ever pray," &e.
The Rev. A. BRIDGEMAN (Methodist preacher)
now presented himself, and, in a strain of great ani-
mation, opposed the petition, on the grounds that
the Roman Catholics were unfit to be entrusted with
political power.
The Rev. Mr. ALDER (another Methodist Mini-
ster) also opposed the petition, in a speed) of con-
siderable length, in which he insisted that the idle-
glance of the Roman Catholics was a divided
allegiance; that they did not consider it necessary
to keep faith with heretics; and that they aspired not
merely to .political power, but to the possession of
the revenues of the Established Church, of which
it was their. determination to possess themselves.—
(Loud murmurs, and cries of " Prove, prove.")
Dr. -KNIGHT, a physician in Sheffield, of the Ro-
man Catholic persuasion, called forth by this attack
upon his religion, rebutted the calumnious assertions
just delivered, and declared that if they (the Rev.
Gentlemen) •who had preceded him could prove.
satisfactorily that the sentiments they had imputed
to the Roman Catholics were really entertained by
that body, he . would on Sunday next abjure Ca-
tholicism, -and. read his recantation in the parish
church of Sheffield. (Loud and long-continued
plaudits.) -
Mr. WAKE, a-gentleman in the legal profession,
and also a Roman Catholic, said he would compress
his speech in two words, and those words were,
"No Popery ;" he meant no such Popery as that
which had been attributed by the Reverend Gen-
tlemen by whom he had been preceded. to persons
of his religious persuasion. But he denied the im-
putation ; and he presumed to imagine that he was
a better judge of his own faith than those who had
tittered these calumnies. -
The Rev. Mr. CRAIG, curate of the parish church,
quoted a passage from one of the Catholic Councils
(without date,) to prove that the Catholic religion
required that heretical sovereigns should be deposed ;
and another passage from PloWden,, to show that the
Catholic religion was unchanged and unchangeable.
The Rev. Gentleman then went into a strain of de-
clamation so indecorous. as to elicit loud cries of
" Shame" throughout the meeting.
The Rev. THOMAS SMITH, a minister of the In-
dependent persuasion, spoke at considerable length"
in favour of the petition, and with a power of argu-
ment that seemed to carry conviction to every mind.
The CHAIRMAN, at the conclusion of this speech,
put the motion on the petition, which
.was
.carried