The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-27 00:00:00

LETTER-OPE ''''UNC.; AT THE POST-

01 FIC .

Last night- a numerous- meeting of the electors of -the
borough of Finsbury was held at the White Conduit-house
Tavern, Pentonville, relative to the opening of letters at the
Post-office addrused to Mr. T. S. Dunceinbe, the representa-
tive of the borough.
Mr. It TAYLOR having been callei to the chair, said that
he had for many years examined the elective franchise in the
borough of Fin;bilry ; he had therefore readily consented to
take the chair on that occasion. That borough had done
itself great credit by the choice of its present representatives ;
they were both gentlemen of great ability, perseverance, and
courage. In proportion as a public man was courageous he
became an object of suspicion to the Government. The power
of opening letters in the Post-office might be a most danger-
one weapon in the hands of a tyrannical Government. He
(Mr. Taylor) recollected that during the time of, he believed,
the Sidmouth Administration, when it was deemed necessary
to get up sham plots, the letters of Mr. Coke, of Norfolk, the
late Earl of Leicester, were opened in order to obtain mate-
rials on which to ground a charge against him of hostility to
t;,_ Government of the day. Thit such conduct would be
ni, t•)r the people ,-ould n:t s.ibmit to such
vluktic,r of that conthience ivh h oug:it to
i•et.Aeen toe Members ann their cou,,Litufints. The .dectors
I)! t, instinry were bound to call upon the Government to wipe
oil al., ..,tiona which it had attempted to cast on the charac-
ter of Mr. pl!iicombe If they did not, they would be un-
ww.tilly of tl:4t rerntetion for public spirit which they had
}Althea.; rni

Sir C. Na:)iPr, MA'., an Mr. Waklev, M.P., here entered
the mom, and were sheered.
The :--EcnErAtty then reAd the following letter from Mr.
Dnrieohd,:—
" TO TUE ELECTORS OF YINSIKYRY IN PUBLIC MEETING ♦SSEMBLED.
" Gentlemen,—l have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of invitation and to express to you my regret that recent
events in Parliament have rendered it imperative on the borough
of Finsbury to meet on my account—the fault, however, rests not
with me, but with her Majesty's Ministers.
" I need not assure you how happy I am, at all times, to meet
those whom it is my pride to represent, when questions affecting
public interests are under their consideration, as, upon such occa-
sions you will do me the justice to admit I have never shrunk from
doing that which I felt to be my duty.

"But, gentlemen, the question which you are convened to discuss
appears to me to be of so peculiar and of so purely a personal
character, that I think it would be most indelicate nn my part to
be present upon the occasion. In declining, however, the honour
that you have proposed to me, I hope I may be permitted to state
that all that I have asked of the House of Commons is that which
I think I have a right to demand, viz.—an opportunity of removing
those base suspicions implied by the fact of the Governmant having
violated the sanctity of my correspondence. The expression of
your independent opinion, I hope, will assist me in. obtaining that
satisfaction without which, I am convinced you will agree with
me, I cannot continue a Member of the present House of Commons
with either advantage to you or credit to myself.—l have the
honour to be, gentlemen, your obedient and faithful servant,
"Albany, Feb. 20. "THOMAS. S. DUNCOMBE."

The reading of this letter produced vehement cheering.
Mr. LINTON, in moving the first resolution, observed that
three distinct charges had been made against the Govern-
ment, one wag—that letters had been illegally opened and
detained at the Post-office; the next—that seals had been
counterfeited to conceal that examination, and the third was
—that it had been done to serve the interests of certain
despotic Governments. Mr. Duncombe had called for expla-
nation, but he obtained no answer. By Sir J. Graham he was
met with dogged silence—by Lord Aberdeen with subterfuge
and false assertions, and by Sir H. Peel with shuffling and
evasion. The only answer given to Mr. Duncombe was con-
tained in the reports of two Committees which did not agree
with each other. Mr. Duncombe's character had been moat
foully stigmatised, and it was the duty of his constituents to
demand a full vindication from the Government. The reso-
lution was as follows :
" That this meeting learns with mortification and disgust that
there exists at the General Post,office a secret spy system under
which letters are broken open, their seals counterfeited, and post-
marks falsely imposed, in order to deceive the persons to whom
such letters are directed, and to whom they are afterwards for-
warded, while the information thus obtained has in some cases been
used to promote despotic interests of foreign Governments—that this
meeting strongly denounces the existence of such disgraceful
transactions, and refusing to be satisfied with the Report of the
Committee published at the close of the last session, deems it es-
sentially necessary for the honour of this country, and also for
public satisfaction and security, that a strict, searching, and open
inquiry should be instituted into all the circumstances referred to
in certain petitions presented to Parliament on this subject, in
order that by such inquiry the manlier in which such illegal and
unconstitutional practices have been carried on, may be clearly ex.
posed and brought to public shame."
Mr. HODGKIN seconded the motion. The question was
between Sir J. Graham and Mr. Duncombe, the one a rene-
gade to his former party, the latter a straightforward gen-
tleman, who had stood fast by his principles, and was at all
times the zealous and independent advocate of popular
rights.
The motion was carried by acclamation.

Mr. WALKER moved the next resolution :
" That this meeting have rea I with indignation the statement
made by our representative, Mr. Thomas Duncombe, in his place
in Parliament, that his correspondence has been clandestinely in.
bercepted and secretly opened, under Government authority, at the
Post-office : that in the opinion of this meeting the only excuse for
the exercise of such power towards Mr. Duncombe, would be that
the Government had good reason to deem him capable of conduct
which, if true, would, in our opinion, render him totally unfit to
continue the representative of a free and independent constituency;
that we therefore feel it due to ourselves, as well as to Mr. Dun.
combe, to demand from tie House of Commons such an investiga.
tion into the proceedings towards him ,as shall either justify the
implied suspicions of the Government, or fully establish the inno-
cence lf our long-tried and faithful representative."
Mr. ROGERS seconded the motion, which was also sup-
ported by
Sir C. NAPIER, M.P., who said that whatever excuse
might exist as to opening the letters of foreigners suspected
of plotting against their country, the Government had no
right to violate the sanctity of correspondence between a re-
presentative of the people and his constituents. Mr. Dan-
come had put to Sir James Graham a plain simple question—
" Did you open my letters, or did you not. ?" He could get
no answer. The matter was referred to two Committees,
but the reports were silent with respect to Mr. Duncombe;
upon that part of the case they made no report whatever.
The question for the electors of Finsbury to decide was this—
he had been suspected of carrying on a treasonable corre-
spondence with some persons in this country :—Was Mr.
Duncombe capable of high treason ?—(Cheers, and cries of
" No, no.") Well, then, you must believe either that Mr.
Duncombe was plotting against the Government, or that Sir
James Graham was plotting against Mr. Duncombe. Under
these circumstances, the electors of Finsbury had done right
to demand a full inquiry into the subject.
The resolution was carried unanimously.
On the motion of Mr. COOPER, seconded by Dr. EPPS, a
petition embodying the resolutions was then adopted.
Mr. WAKLEY, M.P., then addressed the meeting at very
great length, pledging himself to present the petition.
Mr. BLEwirr, M.P. for Monmouth, promised it his best
support.
Thanks were voted to the Chairman, and the meeting se-
parated.