22 DECEMBER 1838, Page 4

The members of the Hammersmith Reform Club dined together on

Wednesday, at the City Arms Tavern, Hammersmith. The principal object which called them together was the presentation of a very hand- some piece of plate, an epergne, to a highly meritorious and active fel- low-parishioner and Reformer, Mr. Minton. Sir John Scott Lillie acted us Chairuma, and there were about fifty gentlemen present. The Working Men's Association held a meeting on Tuesday evening, at Chesney's Rooms, Tooley Street. Mr. l'eargus O'Connor was pre- sent, and spoke magniloquently. The following are specimens of his harangue- " The it Chronicle, edited by George Henry Ward, the Member for Sheffield, had the audacity to attempt to intimidate me, by telling me that the moment I came to a London meeting the Police would arrest Inc. I am here now, and I dare the Police ; I defy the Police and 1 dare the masters of the

Police." * • •

" A party have sprung up, calling themselves Philosophical Radicals'—a party of men who, instead of assailing the stronghold of corruption, would assail the teapot and the exciseman—a party of men who speak of moral courage and denounce physical force. Why, they would be the first to use physical force, and to abstain from any thing like a trial of moral exertion in this country. I have been denounced as a person who recommended physical force. I stand here before you, and if my life hung upon the lips of a judge, or upon the verdict of a jury of shopkeepers, if I had recommended physical force I would not retract the assertion : but during my whole existence—during moy. wholepile lt.adical.carce.r—I never, directly or indirectly, reconnnendcd physical fre

"I consider it moral force, to meet those men who are to carry the Radical

petition to the House of Commons, four or five hundred thousand strong, marching down without arms in your hands, and sending your compliments into the House of Commons, to say that Mr. Attwood and Mr. Fielders are the bearers of a message, aud that you wait for a reply outside." • • * " I am going to give Lord Melbourne something to do next month. We shall have a pretty new moon in January, and let us see if he will put out the moon. (Loud and long-continued cheering.) Let us see if Daniel O'Connell, and his staff of Precursors, will come to his assistance, and go up to the man in the moon. Let us see what they will do when placed iu this emergency; but don't you be afraid in London.'

He advised the meeting to take neither the Ballot nor a repeal of the Corn-laws, till they had got Universal Suffrage. [Mr. O'Connor did not explain how the Chartists were to refuse the two measures, should they be granted.]

A. " Committee of Agitation" was appointed to call meetings, collect the National Rent, and promote the objects of the National Convention.

Another meeting of the same parties was held on Wednesday, when Mr. Hartwell delivered an account of his mission among the agricul- tural labourers. He found them generally in a state of great distress, the average wages being 7s. a week, whilst flour was 9s. 6d. a bushel ; the consequence was, that the labouring man and his family "lived upon potatoes and salt, and drank warm water coloured with the raspings of bread." In spite of threats from their employers, the working men held public meetings, and gave enthusiastic support to the Charter. The Chronicle this morning says, that "the Magistrates, with few exceptions, are men who are afraid of drawing down on themselves the vengeance of the working classes; and the conviction gains ground among the latter, that do what they trill, no one dares to interfere with them."