Cbe enttlarp. • The first public meeting of the Birmingham
Political Union, since its reorganization, was held on New Hall Hill, on Monday. Many not unionists attended the meeting ; and it is said that about 100,000 per- sons were present. Mr. Thomas Attwood proposed that Mr. G. F. Muntz should preside over the meeting, and Mr. Muntz accordingly
took the chair, amidst thunders of applause. He said that he had for some time been prepared for the present distress of the working classes— They were there in consequence of the great pressure on the comforts and happiness of themselves and their families. And whence was this? It arose altogether from the want of capability on the part of their rulers to govern them ably ; and he did not hesitate to say, that the time would shortly arrive when every one would understand why, for many years, they had been subject to alternations of prosperity and adversity : unfortunately the periods of adver- sity had far exceeded those of prosperity. He had foretold the present commer- cial distress, at public meetings held in their town eighteen months ago, and before a Committee of the House of Commons; but his opinions were ridiculed; he was told that nothing short of absolute madness could justify him in bringing forward such notions; but be knew that his opinions were founded on correct principles, and he was determined to make them known, for he wished to do justice to all classes, but more particularly to that large class of his fellow citi- zens who were less able to think and act for themselves.
Mr. Attwood also referred to his prophecies of evil-
" The days are come of which I warned you. I told you last January twelve months in the Town-hall, and again last November, that these days were coming. I told you that the band of despotism was upon you ; I told you that the Boroughtnongers were turning the screw upon you; that a million of brave men would be turned out of employment ; and I regret to say what I foretold is too true—I regret to say that the men who turned the screw upon you are not disposed to relax it—that screw which makes men mad—that screw which breaks the hearts of the best men in England, and which drives them to such a state of desperation as, in the excess of their frenzy, they destroy their own families; so that crimes are committed in England unheard of in history except in the destruction of Jerusalem, when the frantic mothers drank their children's gore. This state of things must be altered, and I conic forward to-day determined to do all in my power to alter it. I know the danger that surrounds me, but I will brave it : I will have the misery of the people relieved, or the oppressors shall sleep in the same bed with their victims. ( Immense cheering.) I know the difficulty ; and, as Napoleon used to say, he who takes the helm must bear the weight of it. I, at your call, presume to take the helm. I can support the helm, and I will support the helm; and by your aid I will carry the good ship England into the port of liberty and pros- perity. Keeping clear of the nets and meshes of the law, we shall defy all human power. So long as we gather up the masses, and magnifii•ently and peacefully demand our sights, so lung shall we be successful, and no power on earth can refuse them. But if our enemies could get us to rob and attack pro- rerty—to insult our neighbours and break the peace—if they could seduce us to attempt force, they would bring force against force, anal we would have a horrible civil war, in which the people would suffer more than they now do. But I will take care that we shall not have a civil war." ( Cheers.) The industrious classes must take possession of their own House, and effect a permament change- " When you get men to represent you in Parliament, take care that they be not crawling sycophant., but independent Englishmen. Yuu must find there men yourselves, in wide, and brave, +Ind generous England ; and you must pay them the wages due to their services. I always warned you that you could do no good till you got a House of Coinmons into your own hands. ID Sweden nearly all the members of the Representative body consists of labourers, and Sweden is the happiest country in the world. And so long as you send men into Parliament too rich to look to your interests, or too needy to be honest, you never will have a prosperous or happy country. lint if you once obtain —and obtain you will, 11 you persevere—if you obtain, I say. household suf- frage, vote by ballot, the abolition of the property qualification, the payment of the wages of attendance of :Members, and the expulsion of placemen—then but not till then, you w ill have a happy country. (Immense cheering.) if our tyrants refuse to listen to us to day, to-morrow they shall listen to two millions of Englishmen. ( Renewed cheers.) Now mark, my friends, if they refuse to listen to us to-day, and if they refuse to hear these two millions of individuals, every one of them, master and man, shall strike work throughout England on one and tke same day. (Immense cheering.) If it should please God that I should conduct this great operation, not a hammer shall strike, not an anvil shall sound, not a shuttle shall move during that week throughout wide England. We shall devote it to the nation and England shall exhibit such a spectacle as the whole earth never before exhibited." (Enthusiastic applause.) If it should please God to take away the good King William, they would still fall into good hands- " I had the honour of reading the address from the Birmingham Political Union to the Princess Victoria. I was much pleased with what she did and said, for she was deeply and seriously affected by your address. I presented an- other address to her excellent mother ; and I never in the whole course of my life saw a woman exhibit finer feelings of the heart and head than she exhibited on that occasion. (Loud cheers.) Therefore, I can safely sir, we have not fallen into bad hands. I hope, my friends, we shall have no difficulty in hum- bling the Boroughmongers and in carrying the great measure of reform. 1 shall not trouble you with more remarks; only assuring you that as I have ever been in the Union, I will live by the Union, and, if necessary, will die by it." (Tremendous burst of applause.)
Resolutions and a petition in favour of a repeal of the Corn-laws and the Poor-law, for Triennial Parliaments, vote by Ballot, and Household Suffrage, were carried unanimously.
Many manufactories in Birmingham have ceased work altogether ; some are not more than half employed : and, in all probability, in the course of another week hundreds of workmen, in addition to those already unemployed, will be thrown idle and destitute on the town. The chief cause of this depression is, unquestionably, the American failures. Most of our American merchants have, for some weeks past, been in possession of an abundance of orders ; but, in the present difficulties of the United States, it would be worse than madness to execute them.— Wolverhampton Chronicle.
The operatives of the Leeds district are in a wretched state of suffer- ing for want of employment, and we are sorry to give our opinion that no immediate relief can be reasonably expected.—Leeds Mercury.
According to the Leeds Mercury, business is still very dull, and the distress of the working people urgent, in Bradford, Halifax, Rochdale, Wakefield, and Huddersfield.
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