The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-24 00:00:00

DISTREsS OF THE COUNI RY.
GREAT MaTINJ AT WHITS .CoNDLiT-

HoUsE.
A Public Meeting was held last night at the White-
fai'nduit House Tavern, for the fv a-pose of taking into
consideration
,the 'state of the country and the mea-
sures necessary to be-adopted tO•alleviate the distres's
of the people. •
The meeting was called for: six o'clock, and at:that
hour the doors were surrounded by persons, mostly in
labourers' attire, eager to obtain admission to the large
room where the meeting was 'to. be held; an attempt was-
made, however,
,to keep out these people on the ground
that this was a Meeting of the Electors of Finsbury,
and n,. t a Cliartst meeting, Mr. Rouie; the proprietor
of the hAtSe,- having. positively refused, when the room
way hired, to allow it. to be used, at all, if it were in-
tended to turn the .meeting into a Chartist demonstra-
tion.' We imagine that-the attempt .to keepl:out the
honest non-electors ti as unsueeessful, as we found by
ha =p'a'st six that the 'large room, which is capable of

' holding, on a moderat c;lculation 2,600 people, was
crowded to excess; and though we obServed
numbers of the 'nest respectable inhabitants of 1' n;-
bury present, there were many 'the-A., who,
,their appearance, 'evidently- advocated the " six
points." . The room was lighted with gas, and imme-
diately behind the Whair, affixed against the wall,
were plper3 with the inscription, " Peace,: Law, and
Order,"? in large letters. The orchestral gallery was
tilled with respectahly attired females, and there were
several ladies also upoh the Platform.
*—Shortly lk-fore seven o'clock T. Duncombe, Esq. ~
M.P., F: Esq., It. BunCoinbe, Esq., G.
Rogers, Esq., Mr. fletherington,llr. Nicholson, and.
a great many other gentlemen,
.entered on' the plat-
form amidst the most deaftruing cheers. G. Rogers,
Esq., was then moved to the chair.

The CHAIRMAN having mounted the table, com-
menced amidst loud cheers.' These are critical times,
and we must mind what we are about. That (point-
ing to, the words " Peace, Law, and Order") is our
banner, and under that we shall 'conqiier. It was
• necessary to Convene the meeting regularly, and re-
gttlarity required. that he should tell how 'the meeting
had been convened. 'They, had been left without a
'proper officer in this &trough, so. they had no means.
of calling a meeting except by the electors themselves ;
and in order to leave no pretence for saving that this
was an illegal meeting, the electors had.'had recourse
to the mode pointed out by the Act of Parliament.
(The Chairman then proceeded ti read the requisition
Convening the meeting.' It was couched in the, usual
terms, and was signed by 25 electors) _lle (the
Chairman) had also taken the liberty of sending a.
copy of the requisition .to Sir J. Graham; which he:
accompanied with the following note :
" ha t there may be no pretence for a repetition
thia.- evening of thrg police !lilies, not to say outrages,
which have taken place 'during the last few days, I beg
leave to present yo❑ with 'a:list of the.conveners of the
Finsbury- meeting, and I remain, Sir,
• . " Your 'very obedient humble servant,
" S.. ROGERS.

" To Sir J. Graham; Bari.; M.P., &e. &e."
He had received no answer to that little note, so he
presumed there no was objection to this. meeting, and
that this was to every intent .and. purpose legal—
even in the estimation of the distinguished and sensi-
tive Baronet.— (Loud cheers,) It became them, then,
now to consider how they were best to exercise
that poWer which they as electors possessed, for the
benefit of those who 'had no privilege.—(Loud
cheers.) There might be shades of opinion as to the
degree to which the suffrage ought to be extended,
but there could be no difference in the opinion that as
Englishmen, they ought to see that right and justice
was done to the lowest man of the community, and
that an injury done to any man in the community
ought to be felt all through the body politic as a
blow struck at every one.—(Loud 'cheers, and cries
of " Adjourn," which became so loud as to render
the. Chairman's remarks inaudible.) He concluded
by saying, that though there were many present who
were not electors, he could not
tallow any one to ad-
dress the meeting except he were an elector.
Mr. MoORE read a letter from Mr. Wakley, ex-'
pressive of his deep sorrow that he still laboured
under the, severe indisposition .which compelled him
to remain absent from the House of Commons during
the last six weeks, and that he should be
.precluded
thereby from being present at this meeting. At the
same time, he begged to assure the meeting that he
united with them. in desiring immediate legislative
reform in the. House of Commons, and it was his
firm conviction, that unless such an organic change
was speedily effected by law, the best interests of the
country would be involved in confusion and ruin.
Class legislation had been the curse of millions.—,
(Cheers followed the reading of this letter.)
Mr. JAMES SAVAGE rose, amidst cries of " Ad-
journ, adjourn," to move the first resolution; which
was as follows That this meeting learns with
sorrow anddismay, that nearly the whole of the manu-
facturing population have foregone their own indus-
trial occupations; that the discontent of the people
has in some places . broken into open violence ; that
encounters have taken place, accompanied with loss
of life ; and that in fact civil war is raging over so
large a part of Great Britain, as threatens effectually
to destroy the security of property in every part of
the kingdom."
The whole of this gentleman's observations were
rendered quite inaudible by the cries from the multi-
tilde at the farther end of .the room to adjourn.
The CHAIRMAN said that the Committee had con-
sidered the question of adjournment, in case it should
be broached, and that they had come to the conclu-
sion that it would be best to retain the integrity of
the . meeting, by remaining +here they were. He
trusted they would consent. to hear the resolutions in
that room, however oppressive the heat might be, and
to pass them if they approved them.(Silence was
restored for a moment, but the cries for adjournment
became.again so Glamourous, that it was found neces-
sary to consent to the wishes of by far the greater
part of those assembled,. and the meeting adjourned'
to the large area between the house and the pleasure-
grounds ;' this immense space, which is calculated to
hold between 7,000 and 8,000 persons, and we think
the calculation is not exaggerated, was immediately
filled. Notwithstanding the immense numbers pre-
sent, the adjournment was effected in a most peace-
able and orderly manner.
Mr. WAiKEit then rose to second the resolution.
This was a most glorious meeting.—(Cheers.) No
man could look on an assembly so immense as this,
conducting itself so well as this, and admit that it was
not a sufficient answer to the statement which had
been made that the people could not meet in an or-
derly manner. Every man present acted as a police-
man to himself—a gentle one--(Loud cheers)—and
if every man kept himself in order, there would be
no disturbance of the peace.—(Cheers.) Order was
Heaven's first law, and if they departed from'order
they departed from one great principle which ought
to accompany all their proceedings. It was a beauti-
ful sight to behold a body of from
,10,000 to 20,000
people assembled to sympathise with their ma-
nUfacturing brethren. It was not for him to
trace the evils which had caused the distress, the mode,
of alleviating.Which.they were now called on to con-'.
sider, to particular sources. He would sum them up
in the general remark, that the people at large, not
having control over the Legislature were, placed
through that cause in their present unfortunate con-
dition,--(LOud cheers.) The object of nearly all the
public political ineetingi which had been, held during
the last ten years, had been for the purpose of advo-
cating an extension of the representation '• and that ,
was the great principle which they advocated now.—
(Loud
°cheers.) The, Parliament of the people should
represent the people, and to that end it was only
'necessary that the people should exercise their ancient
constitutional privileges.—(Cheers.). Let them use,
then, firm but respectful language, advocate the
'principle which would extend their rights; and he
was.
,glad to say that they had a principle on which
they might safely rest—he meant the principle of
the Charter.—(Loud cheers.) At the same time,
that he said that, he would add, that he approved of
the. exertions of the Anti-Corn-laW League —(Loud
cheers) He was in favour of that which would con-
duce to the benefit of the country.—(Renewed
cheers.) Now. caine the question as to the means of
obtaining their object. They must 'obtain' it in the
same wayas they obtained the Reform Bill. And how
was :that gained ? By meeting
.and continuing to
meet ; by petitioning and continuing, to petition, and
to discuss, and that was t'he course they must pursue
now.—(Loud cheers.) An attempt had been made
to put down public discussions—siieb a thing was
impossible. An Englishman, always sympathised'
with a fellow-creature ih distress, and evil indeed
would be that day when the expression—aye, and the
practical expression of that spmpathy was not per-,7
mitted.---(Loud cheers) lie concluded by expressing
his hearty concurrence with everything contained in
the resolution which he had the great pleasure and
honour of seconding.—(Loud eheers.) .
The reSolution was then . carried am(lst immerse
.applause.
Mr. Ws.-rsox moved the following resolution :
" That without.pretending to judge accurately of the
immediate causes of this sudden'attack, this meeting
find no difficulty in deciding that the remote, all-
powerful, and all-prodacing cause, has been class le-
gislation, which, by promoting class interest at the ex-
pense of the general interest, has at length produced
such extensive exhaustion of the resources of the
whole body, that general pressure has prOduced gene-
ral distress. Class set. against class, and man
against man, by the sectional and individual endea-
vour to escape from the general distress." Ile per-
fectly cobvided with everything contained in that re-
solution. He knew that the evils of the country were
attributable to class legislation and to that alone.—
(Loud cheers.) That was no new opinion of his—
it was no new opinion of the meeting : and he
1 , Government that their
system of .legislating , tor elusive interest:; would
pr(shiek what hucl now. tulthippily oecurred.—(Cheers.)
11e 1111.3 certaiu that that 16tem could nut long resist