The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-09-28 00:00:00

Wday. Opresite to liondon-road, egg 5 le'
building formerly used for a Cholera flog):
form, capable of containing about thirty persot i.
In front of this were three small flags or banns dle
one being a miniature royal standard. At the t' . cor-
ner of the yard fluttered a British ensign. On ptatform
were Messrs. Feargus O'Connor,' Macfarlane, G. Edmunds,
Thomas Smith, J. Aclant, and several individuals whose
names we coultrb-brreErd. Am-THlT.lsrthe persons pregent
(with the exception of L. Heyworth, Esq.) we did not ob-
serve a single individual of respectability connected with the
whig, or what is termed the liberal party of the town. Ac-
cording to the nearest calculation we could make there were
present on the ground from eight to twelve hundred persons.
During the whole time individuals kept arriving and others
departing, but we should say that not more than twelve hun-
died persons were present at ally one time. Mr. Feargus
O'Connor and Mr. Edmunds, attended by several other per-
sons, arrived about twelve o'clock.
On the motion of Mr. John Robinson, seconded by Mr.
Poole, Mr. Goodfellow was appointed to the chair.
The CH M AIRAN addressed the assembly as fellow-workmen,
and said he had been appointed to take the chair on this mo-
mentous occasion. He assumed the office with great diffi•
dente as he was not accustomed to address such an assembly,
but lie might safely say that this was the proudest moment of
his life. The working classes of this town had long been
noted for their good behaviour at public meetings, and h e
doubted nut on this occasion they would show that they
merited the character which they had attained in this respect.
He need not say he was glad to see the working .lasses thus
stepping forward to assert their rigla*.s. It would be unne-
cessary for him to repeat his hope that every individual would
keep the greatest quiet and order. Their enemies must not
have it to say that they were an unruly and disorderly mob.
They were met that day for the purpose of considering upon
the best means of attaining universal suffrage, vote by bal-
lot, yearly parliaments, no property qualification, (hear) and
payment of members— (hear, hear, from Feargus O'Connor)
—for the duty which they performed; these were the rights
which they wished to have granted to 'them, and to which he
conceived they were entitled. He would not trespass further
upon their time, as they had many eloquent speeches to hear
from individuals much more capable than he was of expound-
ing to them the principles which they advocated. Once more
he recommended peace and good order and should proceed to
business. He should call upon a working man,—his friend
Mr. Robinson, who would propose the first resolution.
Mr. JOHN ROBINSON also addressed the assembly as fellow-
workmen. He was called upon to bring under their notice a
resolution which contained a great and important principle;
a principle which, if carried out to its full effects, could not
fail ultimately to bring peace and content, and to work bene-
ficially for the people of this laud. The principle to which
he alluded was universal suffrage, (hear and partial cheers)
or the right for every man in this nation to vote for those
who should represent the people in the Commons' House of
Parliament. This was a principle which was grounded on
truth and justice, and their worst enemies, while they opposed
it, dare not deny the justice of it. It was their right, and no
arguments had ever yet been advanced which could impugn
that right. While their enemies dare not deny the justice
of this principle, they visited them as ignorant and unlearned :
—they said they is ere so ignorant that they' were not to be
entrusted with a privilege so peat as that of voting fur them-
selves. If they were to change places with those who talked
thus, if they had the power, what would be said if they acted,
"not upon the principle of Christian charity, which said, " do
unto others as you would they should do unto you," but upon
the principle of doing unto them as they had done while they
were in power? If they did thus, would they not usurp all
the place and power, and grind down their oppressors as those
individuals had ground theist down? (Hear, hear.) But
they would not do so,—their principle was not of that nature;
—it was too holy and just and good,—they were for equal
rights and equal privileges. They were told by their enemies
that they were a disorderly, wild, and untractable mob. But
they were no such thing. They were individuals quietly but
firmly looking for that which was theirs by every principle
of justice—theirs by the inalienable rights of man. They
told them that they were levellers. They said that to the
radicals of Liverpool, and he would ask diem it, even as ra-
dicals, they had such a subject under their consideration, if
ever such a thing was contemplated by them? As ignorant
as they were, as they had been stigmatised with being, they
knew well how to respect the sacredness of property; and
their property, be it little or much, was as sacred to them as
was the property of the most wealthy man in the kingdom to
him. Their property was sacred to them, as it was acquired
by the labour of their hands and the sweat of their blow, and
they knew how to value it. If they had no other property
than that which was the fruit of their labour, they aught say
they wanted no more than a good day's work and a good
day's wages. (hear, hear.) Their enemies said they were
disloyal, but they never were, and they never intended to be
disloyal. While they respected the rights of others, they
also respected their own, and all they sought were those
rights. As ignorant as they were, they had learned to know
their rights, and they would not be worthy of the name of
either 'Englishmen, Irishmen, or Scotchmen, if, knowing
them, they did not seek to obtain them. They had met for
an important duty, and one to which they were bound to give
the most calm and attentive consideration; but as other
speakers would claim their attention, he should draw his re-
marks to a conclusion. Mr. Robinson here read the resolu-
tion, and said, he hoped they would take into earnest consi-
deration the great principles which it embodied, and that
when the petition came before them for signature, they would
not neglect it. Let them remember that all they wanted was
their rights; that. they wanted their full rights, and nothing
more, but that they would take nothing less. (Partial cheer-
ing)

•Ar. GF.OII GE EDMUNDS, of Birmingham, was next called
upon. He said, when he came on that platform, in looking
out for a radical face, he had accidentally hit upon one, which
was that of the last speaker who had addressed them. It was
a remarkable circumstance that, twenty years ago, that indi-
vidual was present at a great meeting in Birmingham, which
was held at Newhall-hill, for the purpose of advocating uni-
versal suffrage. He must say that if the meeting had had
no other effect than to extend principles that had such an
effect,—if ithadbrou.ht forwaral,saah amazato
,INoLjsima.
mingham political connexion, and he was glad now to find at
the present Moment, that the people of Liverpool were asso-
ciated for the attainment of their rights, for advocating which
he was sent to prison for nearly twelve months. Doctor Dodd
had written his Prison Thoughts, and he also could tell them
of prison thoughts, many and bitter; but the fruit had been
knowledge, and they knew that knowledge was power. He
had assisted his excellent friend Mr. Attwood, in framing the
Political Union of Birmingham ; and if that body had done
nothing else, it had at least established the important and
essential fact, whether the reform bill, for which they had so
long contended, was a delusion or not. It was admitted on
all hands, that the association to which he had alluded had
been mainly instrumental in carrying that important mea-
sure. If that union could carry that measure, what ought the
people now to carry, with the additional knowledge and power
which they had obtained? He rejoiced that he was called
upon to take part in the first grand struggle for their just
rights, in the attainment of which he knew they should not
fail. He rejoiced in this first grand movement. It was a
grand movement, because it called for an arrangement on
the first principles of society, for the rights of man, the
inalienable rights of the people. Instead of the compara-
tively trifling number he saw before him, there ought to have
been tens of thousands present. What was the reason? Why,
that their oppressors had extinguished the souls out of them.
(A laugh.) But the time had arrived when they must bestir
themselves. He wished to be distinctly understood. Some
expressions of gentlemen near him had been greatly misre-
presented. It had been said, that Mr. O'Connor had recom-
mended physical force. Mr. O'Conner simply maintained
what he (the speaker) maintained—what the whigs had
always maintained—that on which the right of the present
royal family to reign depended—the right of Englishmen to
resort to physical force, when driven to it by a tyrannical,
oppressive, unyielding body. As Mr. O'Connor had said in
Birmingham, the man who recommended physical force was
himself a 'traitor. If ever the time arrived when physical
force should become expedient, it would not be necessary for
Mr. O'Connor or any body else to recotnmend it. Their duty.
was to explain to the people their rights, and to convince them
they were oppressed and injured. It was moral force, and not
physical force that they wanted. And he would tell them
what moral force was. If they could imagine that to be what
it was not, i fine sunny day, and some fellow, who, like a
certain class or politicians whom lie would not mention, was
fond of getting his hand into other people's pockets,—if they
could suppose the sun to to be at his back, throwing his outline
on the ground before him, and that he were suddenly'to see
another shadow surmounted by a cocked hat, and holding in
the right hand a trouncheon—'twould be but a shadow—no-
thing on earth else—but so familiar was the man with the
constable of the parish that he would know there was a sub-
stance behind about to knock him on the head and to take
him into custody—that was moral force. It was the shadow
of physical force. They showed the people their position—
they told them that half their earnings were taken from them,
in the shape of taxes, every Saturday night. , They showed
them practical evils, and the remedy for them. They made
it known to the tyrants how the thousands, and tens of thou-
sands, and millions thus trampled on felt, and that they had
got in their hearts the passions planted there by the Creator
of man for his defence, indignation at injustice, resistance
against oppression. The maintenance of the constitutional
right of resistance was necessary to prevent the operation of
physical force. This was a truth that ought to be perpetually
urged upon the people of England. Why? Because if the
tyrants knew that the people were acquainted with their
rights, and that they were conibined in opinion and principle,
they must yield. He begged to cautiou them against one
error. They had been advised to take their rights by instal-
ments—to.receive payment by little and little, as the debtor
could afford it. This was sound docirine enough when it ap-
plied to a debtor who could not pay : but they had to deal
with sturdy, impudent debtors who, with their money in
their pockets, refused to pay. If ever they accepted a por-
tion in place of the whole—if ever they adopted that principle
again, they might depend upon it they would be defeated: .
nothing but a fixed purpose to have all that was due to them
would answer the purpose. If they consented to take an
atom less, they would forfeit all; because, first, the value of
the concession would be diminished, and secondly, they
would be divided amongst themselves, and ultimately de-
frauded of every practical good. Let them not take any in-
stalments whether from Whigs or Tories. Let them go on
promulgating their principles, and combining the universal
sense of the people, that their oppressors might see that the
seed sown had already yielded a hundred fold, and lie would
answer that the same force that would carry the most paltry
concessions from the factious, would carry universal suffrage.
(Hear and cheers.) The more barriers thrown up against
them the better. They might as well attempt to arrest the
progress of the sun, as to oppose the inevitable effects that
must follow from the principles they were diffusing among
the people. Let their enemies raise the barrier as high as
they would—let them raise kings, constitutions, feudal tyrants,
or aristocracies—when the barrier was thrown down, as thrown
down it must be, by the advancing intelligence, the combined
force, the determined resolution of the people, it would only
make their own ruin the more awful—the enemies of social
rights would be the victims of social indignation. (Cheers.)
It was said the people were not fit for their rights—that they
were a bloody, a cruel body, the many-headed monster. Who
said so? The very monsters who had always been the first
to resort to physical force—those who could calmly send into
the field of battle tens of thotisands of Englishmen, to be cut
to pieces—for what ? What had been the result of the tre-
mendous war on the continent ? What had been the resnit
of the war with America, where, he thanked God, the people
had triumphantly asserted their right to be represented before
they were taxed? What did they get by the regal battle of
Waterloo, where kings had combined to destroy the right of
the French people to choose their own princes? An immea-
surable sacrifice of blood, for what they had always been
taught to consider an evil. The grand monarque of France
had been a tyrant, and all the people slaves; but as soon as
the people had subverted the cruel noblesse, and delivered
themselves from tithes, and the ten thousand other oppres-
sions to which they had been subject, and under which Eng-
lishmen were in a great degree now groaning, then all the
factions interfered and put them down, and now their voices
were raised to call them bloody. (Hear.) He was ashamed
to keep them so long. The previous speaker had alluded to
the charge, that they wanted to take the property of the rich
and divide it among the poor. A more scandalous libel was
never uttered. They wanted not to imitate their oppressors,
who took £28,000,000 a-year out of their pockets, to pay for
wars against liberty and against them. They wanted not to
oppress the people with taxes on all•the necessaries of life.
'they did not stand up to rob the people, but to obtain jus-

....ward and pu.-dovett na.. _
wanted. There might be ink shed, in,
blood. (A laugh.) The factions that O.
were but a paltry half million at the bee
holes and corners, give up the field at once, .
rights, so that by a silent operation.of peace and justice, the
country would be delivered from an iron yoke which bed
grown out of the tyranny of ages. (Cheers.) lf he could
think that their r au-se-was not a jtrst; a righrenus, and bent.=
volent cause—if he could think that any base and selfish ex-
pectation of personal advantage to himself was mixed up with
his motives in advocating it—if he could not ask upon it the
blessing of Him who would bring all things to pass—he would
not stir one step, or utter one syllable, to advance it a hand's-
breadth towards success. But he bad other convictions, and
therefore he told them that their cause must prevail. Pray-
ing that they might be kept from intemperance on the one
hand, and from supineness on the other, but especially from
the latter, he would conclude by seconding the resolution.
(Applause.)
Mr. FEARGUS O'CONNOR said, he came on behalf of the
people of Brighton, as a representative of the Democratic
Association of London, and also of the northern Radicals.
About two years ago he had personally established the first
Radical association in Liverpool. So far from being apa-
thetic Liverpool had always done her duty, not in elections
between Whigs and Tories, which concerned only the elec-
tive body, but the non-elective, unrepresented people had
been always ready to come forward, when duty demanded it.
(Hear.) The first speaker had told them truly that his
motto was, "A good day's wage fora fair day's work." This
was the only principal of legislation worth contending for;
and inasmuch as he believed that universal suffrage could
alone accomplish their ends, therefore he flung all other points
to the wind, relying on that power of self-defence implanted
in the breast of man by birth, and engrafted in his right arm
by nature. (Cheers.) Mr. Edmonds, had most kindly ex-
plained to them his views of physical force. He who at-
tempted to marshal physical force destroyed it. It was not
for him to marshal it, and if it should be necessary to appeal
to it. God forbid that he should attempt to stop it. (Cheers.)
He was for a' peaceful contest. He wanted them to devote
all their energies to placing the people in a better position for
tesisting the landed aristocracy under the reform bill. They
had placed the speculative, gambling interest almost on a par
with the 'andel aristocracy, without a consideration of the
source from which those classes drew all they possessed, the
sweat, marrow, bones, and sinews of the working man. He
never should forget that he was an Irishman. (Laughter
and loud cheers.) Ireland was his country, and the world
his republic. The people of Liverpool supposed, because
they were not bowed down by precisely the same description
of oppression that many of the manufacturing towns had to
complain of, that they would escape unscanned and scot-
free. They were as a sponge, with two bodies pressing
against it. Did he not see hundreds of poor, squalid, half-
starved Irishmen in the streets, every one of whom he would
gladly have taken by the hand; and did not his heart sicken
when he felt that he bad not the power to relieve them in a
strange land? They had Ireland on the one side, a drag-
chain on their industry. The Irishman, after his work was
over at live o'clock in the evening, would come across the
channel, and there he might be seen with his hod on his
shoulder, contending with them in their own market. He
had a right to do so; and until justice was done to Ireland,
there never could, never ought, and never should be, if he
could help it, justice to England. (Cheers.) Then they had
Manchester, Preston, Bolton, Bury, and Rochdale, to com-
pete with. There was no cordon to exempt Liverpool from
poverty. Railroads and steam would cause poverty, like
water, to find its level everywhere. They were fast being
impoverished : they ought to spring up likesmen. The un-
welcome shower that was falling would, he trusted, make
them grow into more lusty Radicals. (Laughter.) He had
seen half-a-million of men on Kersal-moor taking into their
possession the government of the country. The Whigs had
no longer any power, except a trifling executive power,
which was beyond their control. They had violated all de-
cency, they had destroyed all confidence, they had degraded
the people below their level. And yet these men talked of
physical force! What was it made- them pay their taxes ?
When the tax-gatherer came and said " Jack Murphy, 1
want 14s. out of your pound," would Jack pay, were it not
for fear of the bayonet? How did they pay the interest of
the national debt but by the bayonet ? They had swallowed
up the entire of nature's gifts to the poor; they had prevented
the children of the working man enjoying the fruits of his
honest industry; and if no other man stood up to oppose
them, he would oppose them alone, though he knew he should
fall a sacrifice. And now one word as regarded himself, for
" Cresar's wife should not only bechaste but above suspicion."
A pigmy Whig or Tory—a scion of the tail-press, had asked
him a question ; but as thb interrogater had not had the man-
liness to make his appearance there, he would both put the
question and answer it himself. He would not be put down
by a court which acted both as accuser and judge. He chal-
lenged the whole press of Liverpool or any person connected
with it, to ascend that platform and argue any question of
policy whatever with him. (Cheers.) But no : they would
not. They would sit like geese with quills in their hands in
a garret, writing like sows with pigs in their bellies, begin-
ning with the first person plural—they (the people before
him) supposed that " we" meant every one but the person
reading it, while in reality it meant no one but the person
who wrote it. (Cheers.) The Mercury wished some person
to ask Feargus O'Connor his opinion upon the corn laws.
Feargus O'Connor never voted against the repeal of the
corn laws. He has voted against a fixed duty, and would do
so again to-morrow. Feargus O'Connor had voted against
Mr. O'Connell's tithe instalments but he had never voted
against their total abolition. (Cheers.) The Mercury did
not tell them that Feargus O'Connor, when the DorChes-
ter labourers were to be expatriated, had told Lord Stanley,
Lord Althorp, Lord John Russell, Lord Grey, and Lord
Brougham to their faces, that they ought to have had the
convict jackets on, and to have taken the place of the la-
bourers.—(Cheers.) These newspapers watched you like a
lurcher watching a ferreter. They could make a Whig or a
Tory speech out of a Radical speech. A public man, in
respect to them, .was like the unfortunate individual who had
an old and a young wife; the old one was always pulling
?I"llstig IstigglC tuiligig its? iligkaee vitilkao nelabig -I.llishi'h ;lath'
(Laughter.) This was precisely the may- with the press,
which they were now completely crippling. The only daily
London paper, the Morninu Advertiser, which had Stood. by
him when hesfirst established the Radical Association, was
the only paper now doing them justice. He charged them
never to drink a drop of beer where the Mercury, or Sun, or
or Times, or Chionicte were taken.--( Hear.) They wanted,
then, universal suffrage. They did not seek to take the
landlord's land : they --did not object to his title, but to his
-interference with that which belonged to the people—to his
receiving four-fifths of that which did not belong to him.
They were agitators it was true, but they were not hired
agitators. He never travelleJ a mile at the expense of Whig,
Tory, or Radical. The Whigs,- however, as a great com-
mercial house, had hired a bag-man, and sent him to Hol-
land, Switzerland. Prussia, Austria, and France—one Dr.
Syntax Bosvring by name. (Laughter.) This bag-man
went about spouting upon the subject of the corn-laws; and
he had told them in Manchester that the price of corn was
always low and labour high under the operation of free trade;
and he had given Switzerland as an example, never telling
them of the difference of taxation borne by time Englishman
compared by the Swiss—that there was a free road for one
and a toll-road for the other. —(Loud and protracted cheer-
ing.) But till they had universal suffrage it would be in vain
to repeal the corn laws; for till they had universal suffrage
they would not be able to put the savings in their own pock-
ets.—(Hear.) The Whigs had been obliged to resort to
machinations of every description, and hail lately had re-
course to a new manufacture of Exchequer bills—a new ap-
propriation of the people's property, in order to keep up
their corrupt system. Let them look at what the Whigs had
done, and at what they were likely to do. Did the people
make the poor law amendment bill? IL was their share, he
supposed, of their reformed institutions, while the rich had
got the town-halls, the exchanges, and every thing that could
confer emolument and influence.—(Cheers.) They had even
gone so far as to build an infant prison in the Isle of Wight
for the benefit of the health of the infant paupers. Lord
John Russell, the smallest fellow they ever saw in their own
lives for nothing,—(a laugh and a whisper of "He is in
town,")—so he might be, but if he were they could not see
him,—(a laugh,)—he would desire no better property than a
life-interest in exhibiting Lord John Russell, who had been
trumpetted up as fit to represent the great nation ; what had
he been doing session after session, hut basely coalescing
with the Tories, because he had not the power to govern
upon Whig principles.—(Hear and expressions of disap-
probation.) Instead of giving them those measures which
justice and honesty demanded, he had been truckling to the
very faction which he had declared his wish to put down.
They had complained of the House of Lords ; they had said
there were-too many bishops. Twice he had voted for the re-
moval of the bishops. But as soon as the Whigs saw they were
coming to think about it, they took it into their own hands
and commenced by giving them two new bishops.—(Cheers.)
The whigs looked upon the House of Lords as a wuolesome
barrier—as a body calculated to do their dirty work.' They
often, therefore, put on a deceitful appearance of liberality,
with the hope that their measures would be stopped in the
upper house. (Hear.) Ile complained of the enormous in-
jury done to the people, that farms and pleasure-grounds
might be afforded for the great. In three months they bad
been robbed of 6,200,000 acres of common land. - The Irish
made better agitation than the English and Scotch, because
they had the use of the pratie-hole, to give him food for six
months, so that he was ready for any thing during that six
months. Those whom he addressed lived all from hand to
mouth, trembling for fear their masters should dismiss them.
What, then, diu he insist on? The right of the head of
every family to-farin so much land, for which he should pay
a proper rent. Then they could put their hands in their
pockets, and they would slot work any more unless upon a
condition of receiving half of what they could earn. (Hear,
and loud cheers.)Then, with reference to the means they
were to employ, what did Slashing Harry tell them ? (A
laugh.) He meant Lord Brougham, and he had christened
him Slashing Harry from a famous horse ol that name, who
would run like the wind, but could never be depended upon :
he would run to the side of the course, throw his rider, bolt,
kick, or do anything.—(Laughter.) Well, whet did Slash-
ing Harry say about physical force? Why he said, speaking
of the "three glorious days," he hoped to see the day when all
king's heads would be lolling about the streets as footballs
for-children; and that an attempt on the part of the Duke of
Wellington to force a Bourbon on the people of France would
have justified a revolt. What did Mr. O'Connell say? He
said, rather than see the injustice which was done to his coun-
try, he would see her streets running with the blood of her
children, and that as old as he was, his arm was not too feeble
to draw a sword, should it be required. That sounded very
like a threat of physical force.—(Hear hear, and cheers.)
Again, at White Conduit-house, what had he said ? Do not
talk to him of petitions; let him see petitions from 500,000
fighting men, and he hinted about the Kildare boys corning
down to teach the people how to vote. Stanley had said that
he would resist repeal to the death. Attvrood haul said that
the men of Birmingham would be led on to the death. And
John Fielden had told them not to look upon the new poor
law bill as law, and to oppose by physical force if necessary.
—(Loud and long continued cheering.) He had never said
half so much and he was obliged. to go about keeping these
wild men in order, and to tell the people par nubile jratrem,
not to mind what they said. (Laughter.) When they had
real justice, then, no man would leave Ireland but of his own
will and pleasure as a speculator, not as he did now to escape
his landlord, or the process-server, or because he wished to
wipe from his forehead the brand of being dictated to by a law
church. He had been rapidly rising to the head of his pro-
fession. and could have made £5,000 a-year, ifhe could have
been contented to live on the wretchedness of his fellow-coun-
trymen. But he would not without loathing take two, or three,
or four guineas from a man who had been obliged to commit
crime. 'There was a virtue in crime. The Irish always stole
the most homely things : they would rather steal potatoes than
a sheep, and nothing, would induce them to steal gold.
There was a principle in their crimes. There was a difference
between the poor and the rich pickpocket: the one picked the
pocket to fill his belly, the other picked the belly to fill his
pocket. (Laughter.) As there were several other abler men
to address the meeting, he would not occupy their time longer.
The CH A IRMAN then put the resolution,—" That from our
experience of the past and our expectation of the future, we
have no hope in the House of Commons as at present con-
stituted; we therefore adopt the national petition, demand-
ing for the people universal suffrage, annual parliaments,
vote by ballot, wages for the attendance of, and against the
property qualification of members of the House of Commons,
and that it be recommended to the inhabitants of Liverpool
and its vicinity, to sign the petition."

n.—l will. (" Off witli von.
aAIRMAN hoped the meeting won, ateation.
o a.. speakers. (Great uproar and quarrellink. ,he stage,
one party asserting that tbe speaker had a right to proceed,
and another that he had not.)
Mr. ACLAND.—\Vhat are you afraid of? (Cries of "Off,
off," " Hear him," and great uproar.) He was there to
'Speak to the (Denton.- (" You have no business," and up•
roar.) That was a public meeting; he was there to propose
an amendment to the motion before it; and as long as he
confined himself within the same limits which had been
marked by the previous speakers in moving and supporting
the original motion, so long he should be in order in address-
ing them on his amendment to that motion. (Hear.) Al-
though connected with the press of Liverpool, he professed
himself to be utterly ignorant of what Mr. O'Connor spoke,
when he told them somewhat of the physical force of the
press. The press had its moral and universal influence or
force; of its physical influence or force he knew nothing,
and left Mr. O'Connor to explain the difference between
moral and physical farce as best he might. If it were a merit
to have been a Radical in the times when it was dangerous
to be so, he claimed that merit, and would yield to no- man.
If it were a merit to have been imprisoned by the political
tyrants of the day, lie would yield to no man in his claim to
that merit. At all'events, he begged their indulgent hearing.
(A cry, "What was the crime ?" with great uproar and
laughter.) The crime was for asserting an independent
opinion—battling for that opinion and for the people, and
in endeavouring to establish au independent press. That
j was the offence, and the punishment had been not one year,
but six years' incarceration. (Hear, hear.) He was grati-
fied in I3eing enabled to state, that at least one-third of all
that he had heard had been in support of the amendment
Which he shoOld move.' (" No, no," and interruption from
behind.) The gentlemen who were there seemed to know
nothing of the usual means of proceeding on such occasions;
they wished him to-put his motion before he addressed them.
The only possible tendency of any such course would be this,
to create uproar and confusion—(cries of "Read it")—in
favour of those who so sought to restrain his observations.
(Great uproar and interruption. A voice, " Fair play I con-
tend for;" another, " There's always a row where Acland
is." Here the uproar, violence, noise, and confusion was
an admiiable specimen of a series of petty tyrannies amongst
the friends of liberty and the glorious " I will be master"
rule of mob law.)
Mr. Flostorins here stepped forward, and rose to order.
A meeting like that, of many thousands of persons, (loud
laughter, and "oh, oh,") had a perfect right to know whether
the motion be relevant to the business of the meeting or not.
He knew something of order, and the meeting hail a right to
know whether the gentleman was coining there merely to
occupy their time on an irrelevant matter or not. When
the resolution had been read, if it were relevant, then they
were bound to hear the gentleman. (" Hear," confusion,
and uproar.)
The CHAIRMAN.—That is very desirable.
Mr. ACLAND.—The chairman had decided on the sugges-
tion of Mr. Edmonds, and he therefore would read, in order
to the satisfaction of the chairman and the meeting, the
amendment he should conclude by moving—" That the great
majority of the people of this country are in the habitual use
of alcoholic liquors (shouts of laughter) ; that by tbat prac-
tice they continually and voluntarily incur the danger of
intoxication (roars of laughter, and confusion)—a danger
unproductive of any good (confusion), whilst it subjects the
poor and weak amongst our electoral constituencies to all
the mischiefs of drunkenness (great laughter), bribery, and
corruption—entails want and places much misery on indivi-
duals, demoralises the community, and desolates the land by
the wholesale generation of pauperism and crime. (Great
uproar.) That they who thus induce social and national
evil for the momentary gratification of a sensual appetite,
are, so long as they may do so, incompetent"—(tremendous
uproar and confusion, which drowned the speaker's voice,
and, loud cries of "Put him down.")
. .

Mr. EnmoNos.—l rise to order.
Mr. ACLAN D.—Before you have heard the amendment?

Mr. EDMONDS.—I have heard it; I have heard enough. I
don't see, in the name of God, what that amendment has to
do with the original motion.
Mr. ACLAND.—You have not heard it.

Mr. EDMON DS.-1 have heard it; I have heard enough of
it. (Great uproar.) Whether the drinking of gin makes
people drunk has nothing to do with the resolution that we
shall adopt the national petition. I beg to put that to the
meeting. (Confusion.)
Mr. AC LAN D.—You cannot put anything to the meeting ;
here is the chairman.

Mr. EDMONDS amidst great uproar and strife on the plat-
form as well as in the body of the meeting, conferred with
the chairman, after which he said he had the authority of the
chairman to put it to the meeting. Those who thought that
this stupid amendment should be discussed, that gin made
people drunk, would hold up their hands; those 'whothought
the discussion ought not to he continued, would say "aye."
(Uproarious shootings of " aye," followed by cries of
" away, away," "go down," and great uproar.)
Mr. LAWRENCE HEYWORTII here stepped forward and
addressed the meeting as his fellow-men, and implored. them
to listen to him fora moment. He looked upon every man
present as being his brother and be loved him as such. If
they believed him, he was sure they would listen to him for a
moment. (Cries of "No teetotalism.") He had listened
with great. attention to what had been said since he cause to
that meeting,: and he was always anxious that his fellow-
men should assemble in such meetings as that to discuss
their rights and privileges. He considered this was abso-
lutely necessary for every class of society for their own well-
fare and well-being, whether rich or poor. It was absolutely
necessary that- evely proposition which was to regulate the
conduct of men. should be brought before the multitude of
mankind. (Hear, hear.) When he had expressed that
'these were the sentiments of his heart, he was sure that they
would give a little attention to what he had to say to them.
It was true that the commencement of M r. Acland's amend-
ment seemed contrary to the business of the day, but they
did not wait for the conclusion, or, he was sure they would
• have come to a very different conclusion. (Great uproar.)
Mr:SPCnission (rnnuntinir.tbegTeat Ve-fiehierrileTh"ge./tIVA
arid- manner, for his words could hardly be heard above the
babel-like discord and noise that surrounded him)—" I say
the question's decided—the question's decided."
Mr. LAWRENCE, HEYWoRTH.—Have I said any thing to
offend you ? If! have, lam sorry for it with all my heart.
If not, then permit me to go on.
-Mr. WHlTTLE.—Gentletuen, I rise to order.
Mr. ACLAND.-1 claim possession of the chair. (Up-
roarious confusion.)
Mr. WHITTLE.—I rise to the question of order. I speak
to the question of orders (" We know that," and great
disorder,) A question has been put to you whether you
would hear a certain amendment on a-proposition put to the
meeting? (" No, no, no.") You have decided that the
•question before us now is whether you will support your own
resolution or not? (" yes,") -whether you will support the
chair ?(" we will,")—or whether will you allow any inter-
ruption on the part of the whigs. (" No we support the chair,
and universal suffrage," and great uproar.)
Mr.ACLANn.—I disclaim the insinuation; 1 have no more
to do with the whigs than you have. (Immense uproar.)
The CHAIRMAN interfered and proceeded to read the ie.
solution.
Mr. A c LANn.—You are going to read the resolution?
The CHAIRSIAN.—Yes.
Mr. ACLAND. --1 tender the amendment, (handing it to
the chairman.)
The CHAIRMAN.—AII for the National petition, put up
your hands. Those on the contrary opinion. Carried unani-
mously. (Great cheering and uproar.)
Mr. JOHN MURRAY, a working man, then came forward
and addressed the meeting. He had always understood that
those who were not for them were against them. He had al-
ways understood that those who sowed dissensions amongst
them were not their friends. He cared not whether he were
so shallow as to be the tool of whigs or tortes, or whether his
own passion for notoriety might make him do it. (Cheers.)
He cared not whether he was at the head or the tail of the
press of Liverpool. (Continued cheers.) What was it to
him that they used intoxicating liquors? He contended that
they ought not; but if they did use them it was their own
choice. Was taxation their own choice? ("No.") He
contended against immorality, he contended against drunken-
ness, he contended against anything which degraded the hu-
man character. Take that in its proper place, and he was
with them. (Hear.) He had seen, the day before, half a
million (!) of men, and he protested that there was not a
drunkard amongst them—a proof that the radical portion of
the community were not a drinking community ; and he was
sure his excellent friends. Mr. Heyworth and others, would
be gratified to hear it. (Hear, hear, from Mr. Heyworth.)
But that was not what he came to address them about; he
came to move a resolution respecting the people's charter—
respecting an act to provide for the just representation of the
people. Why did they assemble in their thousands to ask
for a change in their representation ? Was it not because
that they who took charge of the national funds left them to
work for them, and expended the money for their own benefit?
Was it not because a junto formerly exercised the privilege
of placing men in the House of Commons, and although they
succeeded in aiding others to destroy that junto, had not a
many-headed monster taken its place ? Had taxation got
removed? Were their homes more happy? 'has the mon-
ster of intemperance done away with ? Were their electors
more pure than they were before? When he looked around
him did he not look around on some working men there who
had admitted to him, at the last election, that they dared not
use their franchise? (Cheers.) Were there not thousands
of tradesmen who dared not use their elective franchise in
Liverpool ? Did not this principle extend into the mass as
broad as the basis of society. If, in wishing for universal
suffrage, they were wishing for it for the working man only
- and for none other, then would their cause be an unholy and
unjust one and they ought not to prosper. But they sought
nothing for themselves which they were not willing to give to
others; they asked for nothing but a participation in what
was.every man's birth-right. (Cheers.) In asking for their
rights they would take no less. Their reasons were the fol-
lowing : the boroughmongers shared in the management of
the purse-strings of the nation, and maintained this position,
and contrived to spend the nation's wealth for an indefinite
period. The phalanx got broken, and the People in the joy
of the moment consented to do what they ought not to have
done—consented to sacrifice the principle of universal suf-
frage, in the hope that the power they thus gave over would
be used with patriotism, and that relief would be granted to-
the mass of the community. They had a fair trial. Yes,
those who called themselves reformers, defended the worst of
the former abuses, and it was high time for them to take their
own affairs into their own hands, (Another collection of
people who were being addressed by a temperance advocate
a few yards from the platform here cheered their speaker and
drowned the conclusion of the sentence.) As neither of the
systems had done them justice, let them do it for themselves.
He concluded with moving "that this meeting fully approves
of the plan for the outline of au act to provide for the just
representation of the people in the united kingdom, in the
Commons House of Parliament, in accordance with the
principle set forth is the National Petition."
Mr. COBBETT next presented himself. He said, he had to
return his thanks to their committee, who had done him the
honour to appoint him as the seconder of that resolution.
And though he certainly did not go there expecting to be
appointed to any such honourable office, he had, since he had
been at that meeting, found sufficient whereon he thought it
was his duty to address to them his opinion as to their conduct.
(Hear.) The principles of the people's charter to which that
resolution referred, were universal suffrage, annual parlia-
ments, vote by ballot, no property qualification, and the pay-
ment of wages to members of parliament. That was the ob-
ject of that meeting—that was the object for which many
thousands (!) had met there that day, and that was the object
for which at least 300,000 (! !) had met on Kersal moor the
day before. That was the object which they must follow up,
determining never to be swayed or deterred by the crotchets
of those friends who might pretend to join them. The whigs,
the humanity-mongers, the crotchet-mongers, the teetotallers,
the abolition-of-slavery humbugs, the education people had
alt joined them when they had taken the business into their
own hands, as they (lid now, and when they had joined them,
(the rads.,) and got into power through them, they (the
whigs) had always sacrificed them. What was the trick
which was played off on them on the passing of the reform
bill? They (the whigs) talked to them about everything but
those rights of which they stood in need. They (the whigs)
had talked to theirs of education, of abstaining from spirituous
liquors, of freeing the black, of repealing the corn-laws, and
of repealing the tree trade of literature in France. (Hear.)
They had talked to them about everything but giving them
a fair shale in the produce of their own labour. (Cheers.)
They might honour a man who honestly disagreed with