The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-26 00:00:00

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

PUBLIC MEETING AT THE NATIONAL ASSO-
CIATION HALL, LAST NIGHT-MEMO-

LIAL TO HER MAJESTY.
A very crowded public meeting was-held last night,
in the Hall of the National Association, Holborn. to
take into consideration the present alarming state of
the country. Among the gentlemen present we no-
ticed Captain Bernal, M.P., for Wycombe.
Mr. HETHERINGTON was proposed, and took the
chair.; and doing so, he said that in opening the pro-
ceedings of that evening, it would be necessary to
state that the meeting was called to take into consi-
deration the awful state of the country ; and in doing so
he wished to state at the commencement that great
efforts had been made to prevent the expression of
public opinion upon these important events. It was,
of all things, important that the moment any great
commotion took place in a great country like this,
that there should be an immediate opportunity given
for the public expression of opinion, because, if these
combinations were brought about by the bad govern-
ment of corrupt and wicked Ministers, or by bad le-
gislatior , what were the people to do if, when they
met to express that opinion, their meetings were in-
terdicted, and every means taken to prevent them ?
It was, of all things, important that public meetings
should be held whenever there was a necessity for the
expression of public opinion.—(Cheers.) It was under
these circumstances that he had consented to take the
ohair that ev.cning.4.a.nd.although. spies were going
about, and police were sent dressed in plain clothes,
yet he hoped that that meeting would be conducted in
a peaceable and constitutional manner, and he should
use his utmost endeavours, and he trusted they would
support him, to make it such.—(Cheers.)
Mr. MORTON then rose to propose the following
resolution :—" That this meeting is of opinion that
that the distress and disorder now prevalent in the
manufacturing districts, are sufficient evidence of the
injustice and foolishness of class-legislation, and fully
pros e that the classes now arrogating to themselves
the powers of government, have not succeeded in at-
taining the only just end of government—namely,
the comfort and content of the governed." lie said
that, twenty years ago, the wages of the working
man were six times what they were at present. Was
it to be wondered at, that men turned out, when they
were at starvation's door ? The men only claimed the
wages of 1840, and surely that could not be injus-
tice. It was his firm conviction that it was of little
use attempting to put down the people, unless they-
put down the distress.—(Cheers.)
Mr. MORRIS, in seconding the resolution, said that
the outbreak in the manufacturing districts was not
a political one, but one caused by dire distress. The
people were not to starve—they must not starve.
The resolution was then put and carried amidst
loud cheers.

Mr. LiNroN proposed the following resolution :
" That while this meeting directly traces the present
anarchy to the one great injustice and monopoly of
class legislation, while it justifies the right of the slave
to strive for redress, it nevertheless is desirous that
such redress should be attended with the least possible
amount of injury to any ; that it therefore earnestly
exhorts the actors in the present emergency to refrain
from all wanton violence—to conciliate, rather than
to provoke, the troops used against them, and to keep
their endeavours, as far as possible, under cover of the
law." He did not for a moment support or uphold
rebellion, but he would not turn round upon the men
who lost their tempers by starvation, and say you
shall have no sympathy from us.—(Loud cheering.)
The word rebel was not so bad after all. They must
understand hi'n. Ile wished to be understood by the
capacity of the meanest and most stupid policeman.—
(Loud cheers.) It was no crime to rebel again -t star-
vation.—(Cheers.) • 'I he guilt of the rebellion lay on
the heads of those oppressed the people who rebelled.
—(Cheers.) He would conclude with the words of
Bacon, " the surest way to remove sediti,:n is the re-
moving the cause thereof."—(Cheers.)
Mr. WATSON, in seconding the resolution, hoped
that every one would obey the law, as there were
spies in the town. Every endeavour had been made
to provoke a breach of the peace, and at White-Con-
duit House on Monday, had it not been for the inhe-
rent love of order in the people, the peace would have
been violated, owing to the conduct of the police.
The CHAIRMAN said that before he put the reso-
lution, he would just say that the papers which had
been placarded on the walls calling the meeting had
been nearly all torn down by the police. Ile (the
Chairman) sent • out two men with boards on their
backs, thinking that they would not be harmed, but
instead of this they had been seized by two police-
men, and conveyed to Bow-street,—(Cries of
" Shame, shame.") He (the Chairman) thought it
necessary to make this announcement to show how
attempts were being made to suppress the honest
expression of opinion.—The resolution was then pqt
and carried amidst loud cheers.
sir, SAVAGE then rose to propose the following
resolution That this meeting Is convinced that
there can be neither peace nor prosperity for Great
Britain until the equal rights of all classes of the com-
munity—as set forth in the People's Charter—shall
be acknowledged by the Legislature."—(Tremendous
cheering, which lasted for several minutes, together
with waving of handkerchiefs and hats.) He (Mr.
Savage) took that opportunity of returning his public
grateful thanks to those brave fifty men in scarlet who
had refused to murder their fellow men.—(Cheer.)
They had had the manly courage to look full in the
face of danger, and refused to obey the orders of those
who violated the laws of God and man.—(Loud
cheers.) Those men said we will not be instrumental
in the death of our fathers, our mothers, our sisters
and brothers, and kindred, at your command.—
(Long continued cheering.) We never agreed to
murder our fellow men, and we have sentiments that
make our hearts revolt at such a thought.—(Cheers.)
But the people were not worthy of this nobleness. It
was with sorrow that he (Mr. Savage) had found that
no response had been made to it by the people.—
(Hear, hear.) The people were not worthy of
liberty when they allowed those men to be sent
ironed to town. But no injury should come 1
upon these men.—(Renewed and vehement cheering.)
Perhaps the Government would send them abroad to
work their existence out—(Cries of " No, they never
shall")—and if they did, those men would take with
them the gratitude of the whole people of this country
that they had not stocped to murder their fellow-
countrymen at the command of merciless. tyrants.—
(Cheers.) He (Mr. Savage) knew that spies had been
sent about—probably there were some in that very
room. Policemen were sent about in plain clothes to
entrap the people, and he must say that the proceed-
ings of the last fortnight would almost justify an ap-
peal to physical force, but that the people were bent
upon peace unless they were goaded on.—(Hear.)
Mr. LOVETT rose to second the resolution, and
was receive] with loud cheering. He said, that in
rising to second the resolution, he was not in a frame
of mind to trouble them with any very lengthened
observations, but he concurred most cordially in the
sentiments expressed in the resolution, that there
could be no prosferity in this country until the rights
of the whole people were acknowledged as the law of
the land, as set forth in the document called the
People's Charter. He had observed for some
years past the miseries of the working man
had been increasing. In 1814, a working man
might, with one week's wages, have purchased
26 loaves of bread, and new if he laid out his whole
week's wages he could only buy seven loaves. In
1814 the man with a fixed salary and property could
only buy three pieces and a halt of calico for 31., and
he could now purchase ten pieces for the same money.
Now he would ask whether the monied man or the
calico producer had been benefited ?—(Hear.) He
(Mr. Lovett) was anxious that the working man
should examine thy" Charter hiffigelf; and `noniken to
what the Times, or the Herald, and any of those
sneaking papers, which were merely the tools of those
who paid them, might say, but he hoped that every
working man would investigate the document of the
People's Charter, and examine and take up the great
questions it contained, and they would then find that
to carry out its principles to the fullest extent would
surely remedy the crying evils under which the
country at present laboured.—(Cheers.)
The resolution was then put and carried amidst the
most vehement cheering, accompanied by waving of
hats and handkerchiefs.

Mr. DWAYNE then rose to submit to the meeting a
memorial to her Majesty. The memorial embodied
the sentiments of the different resolutions, and prayed
that her Majesty might be pleased "to call Parlia-
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