Elie Sittroparts.

A meeting, summoned by the committee of the Working Men's Association, was held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern on Monday evening, to consider the Canada Resolutions proposed by 'Ministers to the House of Commons. The room was nearly full during the greater part of the evening ; though the numbers of the assembly varied, many going out and others coming in. " William" Hoare, a working man, was in the chair; and opened the business of the meeting with the following remarks.

" Fellow citizens, the Working Men's Association have again caused their brethren to assemble together in public meeting, ' for the purpose of ascertain- ing whether the people of England and Ireland will sanction the base proposals of the IS'higs to destroy the principle of universal suffrage in the Canadas, and to compel the people of that country to be plundered and enslaved by a few racial and irresponsible persons.' Those individuals who only look at the surface of things, perhaps may be disposed to ask what have we do with the affairs of Canada? To which I answer—we are contending for the great principle of Democracy : that principle has been openly attacked, and is about to be violated, by the Whig portion of the House of Commons. What is it to us whether the scene of action be Canada or England? The principle is the same everywhere; the cause of Democracy is the same all over the world. The people of all countries are brothers in the most extensive sense of the term, and if this important truth was universally understood and acknow- ledged by them, they would not continue to be plundered, as they are at present, by the idle and the vicious portion of the human race."

11r. Hoare went 011 to tell his hearers, that the Canadians bad, what the people of England had not, a Commons House. In Lower Ca- nada, the suffrage was almost universal, and the people to all intents and purposes were represented- " But, unfortunately, they have a mimic House of Lords, in the shape of a Legislative Council, who are nominated for life, and are only responsible to the King of England, or rather to the underlings of the ColJnial Office. They have also an Executive Council, composed of the clergy, the judges, and other great personages : and at the head of all is a Governor, who is the representa- from this country, not because he can govern—not because he knows any thing about the country which he is sent to govern—but because he wants a place. Their judges are not responsible, as they ought to be, to the Representatives of. the People ; but they are responsible to the Executive Council, of which they themselves form a part. So we may judge of the nature and efficiency of such a responsibility. Making a man responsible to himself is illustrated by Mama- duke Magog in The Wreeh Ashore, who fines himself 5s. for being drunk, and borrows the money for that purpose."

The House of Assembly was required by the Executive to vote money for certain purposes; but that House, really representing the people, require to know for what purpose the money was to be granted —the utility of each office they were called upon to keep up. They also petitioned for the redress of certain grievances—for the abolition of that legislative fungus, that bastard aristocracy, the Legislative Council ; and, obtaining no redress, they stopped the supplies.

" Yea, my friends, the People's House have stopped the wages of the People's servants. On a former occasion, when the supplies were stopped, Lord Dal- housie, who was then Governor, made short work of it, for he took the money himself out of the public chest ; but, for fear of subjecting another Governor to so unpleasant and so dangerous an experiment, the British House of Com- mons are now about to pass resolutions which will do away with the People's House in Canada, which will destroy Democracy and establish Despotism- (' Shame !")—and we have called you together that we may warn Ministers not to pursue a course which in all probability, if persevered in, will end in a sacri- fice of human life, and which we as lovers of humanity are bound if possible to prevent—and that we may prove to the Canadian people that we sympathize with them in their struggle, and that we firmly protest against the unjust and tyrannical course which is about to be pursued against them."

But, suppose the Canadians should refuse to submit to the authority of Parliament—what line of conduct would the mother country adopt?

" The mother country /—was there ever a greater prostitution of that fond and endearing name? England a mother to her colonies! She plays the part of a bloodthirsty tyrant ; she first sends out a swarm of hungry officials to plunder them ; and if they resist, as they ought, she calls out her hired assassins to shoot and bayonet the very people on whose industry they exist. A mother, indeed ! by my soul it must be a stepmother ! But in the case of the Canadians, I doubt the efficacy of those leaden arguments which our tyrants are ever ready to use. If British mercenaries have 'muskets, American citizens have rifles. And although the Government of the United States would not interfere, the People of that great republic would lend a helping hand to their oppressed brethren in Canada ; and if we consider the superiority of an American rifle- man in his own woods, what chance would our stiff and stately red machines have, I should like to know. I am borne out by historical facts in this matter; for when we were governed by a lunatic, who sent his butchers to slaughter a brave people because they denied the right of taxation without representation, they got well thrashed for their pains."

Sir William Moleswortli, who was received with loud cheers, pre- posed the first resolution-

" That the colonial policy of England towards the Canadian people has for a num- ber of years been highly unjust and oppressive ; subjecting them to the despotic sway

or the Legislative and incentive Councils, of incompetent Governors, of drunken. un• qualified, and irresponsible Judges, and of a whole host of peculating and official ty rants, whose apost [icy from principle and corrupt practices have been oftener their re. commendation than comp:V.I.:icy or character:*

He said that it was a grievous act of tyranny, and a gross violation of the constitution of Canada, to pass a bill for seizing the Canadian revenues without the consent of the House of Assembly— If such a violation were attempted in England, the people would resist it, even unto the death ; and it was a matter of history, that in times past, when a King of this country had attempted a similar act, the people had risen, and punished him for his misdeed. So bad it been with the colonies of the now United States: when the mother country had attempted to coerce them, they arose at once, set her at defiance, and eventually shook off the yoke.

Mr. Watson seconded this resolution ; and bitterly reproached Minis. ters with their pretence of adopting the principles of Mr. Fox, while they really acted in direct violation of those principles. But the Ministers would not succeed in their base attack on the liberties of Canada— The Government might rest assured they could not do with the Canada, as North tried to do with the United States. They would now find neither Hessian nor English troops to fight in their behalf. That time had gone by for ever ; and if the Ministry had benefited by experience, they must know that the feelings of Englishmen, with respect to the quarrels betwixt the United States then and with the Canadas now, were as different ae daylight was front darkness. The ignorance of the people made the Ame- rican war popular. Government could then hire troops from the enslaved nations of the Continent to fight against liberty; but now the (lay had gone by, never, he hoped, to reappear. If the Government drew the sword against the Canadians, he knew what the result would be. It would be a just result. It would be the triumph of justice over injustice, and of liberty over despotism.

He would quote a passage from a little work by Paine, entitled Agrarian Justice,—for, when speaking of America, it was impossible not to revert to Paine, who taught the Americans " common sense," and the way to independence— Perhaps the Canadians would find another Paine who would show them the same road. The quotation was—" An army of principles will penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot. It will succeed where diplomatic management would tail. It is neither the Rhine, the Channel, nor the ocean that can arrest its ia ,gress. It will march on the horizon of the world, and it will conquer."

:l!r. Murphy, of St. Pancras, spoke in support of the resolution. Mr. Lovett, in moving the second resolution, (which we do not find in the report,) said that there were only two forms of government—. those of force, and of mutual inter. .ts.

If men are forcibly constrained to submit to institutions or laws which others, in their exclusive prerogative, prescribe for them, we have been taught in our political school to consider it despotism ; and that the persons constrained, being justly at war with their oppressors, have right on their side, whenever they have the power to break the political chains that bind them. Nay, if men born in such a state of political slavery yielded submission in their igno- rance, the right to freedom is equally powerful when knowledge ...nail enable them to discover the dignity and rights of manhood. Despotism,_ therefore, or the government of force, whether at emanates from one man or from many —whether it atultifies the ignorant by its splendour, or overawes the credulous with its fooleries—whether its power is in standing armies, ur in the tinselled trappings of wealth and title—is a power equally in rebellion against the sove- reign right of the millions. You will perceive, therefore, that the mere forms of unmarchical, aristocratical, or mixed governments, if upheld by force or fraud, are no more free from being considered despotic, than if the form was exercised by Mahomet Ali or the Emperor of all the Russias. The other de- Illeriptiou of government is rare !y tr be met with—that of mutual interests in the making and obeying of the laws—that of men unitedly devising the best means to promote the happiness of all, themselves included. America affords the nearest approximation to it, and consequently the nearest approach to just

government to be found in the world.

Mr. Leader, M.P., supported the resolution ; and called upon the people to stop the Whigs in their " mad career." Mr. Vincent said, that the first part of the second resolution affirmed an important truth—" that any government formed or perpetuated im opposition to the interests of the majority, was despotism, and ought to be resisted." He spoke indignantly of the Whig Poor-law- " The foulest deed of the Whigs is the accursed Poor-law Amendment Bill. The Whigs turned philosophers; they talked of making the English people *independent labourers.' (Loud laughter.) But how did they begin their work of reformation ? Nut as they ought to have done, by cutting down the useless and expensive trappings of royalty—not by upsetting the hereditary privileges of the peerage—not by abolishing the law of primogeniture—not by giving. universal suffrage to the people—not by striking a blow at the almost sovereign power of wealth and capital, by placing labour upon a proper founda- tion in the country—( Tremendous cheering)—no; they commenced their experiments on the poor—(" Monte! ")—they inlisted the cold heartedness of damnable Malthusianism—(Dluch cheering)—and passed their Poor-law Bill under the false pretence of niaking the working men of England • independent labourers.' Yes; under this miserable pretence they have deprived the honest man and woman, who had worked hard all their lives, and who had been pay- ing poor-rates for thirty or forty years, of the means of comfort and happiness in their old age, and estublished a means of beating down the rate of wages all over the country. For the Poor•law Bill the Whigs have earned our hatred— and they shall have it to the death." (Loud cheering.) Mr. W. J. Fox moved, " That the lase proposal of the Whigss to force the in tjority of the Canadian people to submit to the despotism of a few official set asi,h., iIi ennsiitutional rights, and apply the revenues of the country to the ici!,:nent u• these persons who eoent Tact all the heneti,•ia: measures of the people—is desetving of the emanation of every fi lend to liberty and justice."

In the long and black catalogue of Whig offences, this offence against Canada was the blackest-

" Whatever may be my complaint against the Whigs--wliatever may be my strong sympathy in the generous enthusiasm which has anitil Ito this meeting in defence of the rights of a distant and oppressed people-1 shraild hesitate to affix the stamp of baseness to any measure emanating from aliy party in which that party was true to its own principles, however different those priarciples may be from what I myself profess. But in this instance, they have not only fallen below the principles of good government as we own them, but they have fallen below their own NVhiggery: they have fallen even yet lower than that, into the deepest baseness of all—of doing that which on even the priuciples of Tinyisiu is altogether unjustifiable."

The Canadian "experiment," ES it WaS called, had utterly foiled- " Yes after vear has brought, as E.s: predicted, the two the elected Assembly and the Legislative Couueil, into a state of co1li ion : the Covernment of the country has beer, brought to a stand : even the feria, t f ju,tice are no longer supported by those resource, which should insure tt.eir jast ahninistra- Con thruugliout ti.e country.. In the six year- preceding the rnspletL! stoppage to whirl' they 1, ive now been brought, the Legislative I affiliori;y, rejeced no less ti.ati 122 bills stilt up to it from the In it Lly, rnutilatert fer•y.se,ee mole by their lei.liy atm:h.:mem •.. t: e !..!!, wele thrown hack in tlor:r flees by tho coming Lott! 1.ylolliur.r (wet. I 11..deo: of C,... v..ith a V,:1- seance." ( Vitro iiu 1 gee s The rights of men could not be :,:asol( a upon in erre cclintry, trill out no injury to those rights in

strength is evinced in that v.', .eunity of feeligct V. !mows lio

difference of con otry— for which it is errele II to perceive a Ni....:1.11)11 of jo,tiee, and which instantly tins to tkelare that ii,justiee shall not be pet petrated, but that time shall he against it that ceaseless seal fire, that sr.' seir of opieinn, showing itself in whatever mode it nett! be best in the course of the snuggle that op:niou should be evineed in, and which ultimately must succeed in putting flow,' every form of juju-tier: that mast's craft or force can have recourse to. Toe Carnelian% are struggling for the last 1 ig lit of a Representative .assenibly—that which gives to every one of its movements influence and power—without which it is the vainest of all vain thine, that ever were exhibitel upon the face of the earth. What wili the Legisrative Council of Canada care fur the House of Assembly—with what respect will they treat any of their proceedings— what chance will there be fir any good measure being adopted or tolerated, if they know that the act which would etifedue their °pilaw" they are disabled from having recourse to? It is only by the apprehension of the, that they can be reduced to any fleet ee of propriety in their cutoluct iu relation to the other branch of ti.e Legislature. But I trust no such experiment will he mode. I trust the Legislative Council, it it tray not exist in the ham iti which it is ctinprible with the right of representatin, will be disowned by the Assembly, and put away altogether. It call rin!y be it:garde(' as a nuisame that breaks up the road of common interest and stop, the path of human iieprovement. This will be their best cour-e. In all their movements there are fret& and honest heart, here that will re-pond to then' ; for u e feel that theirs as well is airs is the cause of the many against the few—it is the cause of right and justice against that of rapacity and oppressam—it is the cause of 1(4.g-injured humanity and the rights and wellbeing of the millions against despotism in all its frame." (Loud and long-continued cheering.) Mr. Carneron'epoke briefly ; and then Mr. Harvey, M. P. addressed the meeting. Ile apologized for his absence during the early part of the evening, and for his IVILIstil to pro- pose one of the resolutions, by saying that he had been to the Ilouse of Commons to attend the Committee on the Imprisonment for Debt NI; but it so happened, that at the end of no very short holyday, Members were too much fatigued to form a House.

of the ma iy against the few, and resistaece became a great more duty.

" I may 1)2 told, perhaps, that I am recommending rebellion. I deny it. It is justifiabh resistance that I recommend. Rebellion, as I understand the ter., is not confin-d to the act of a people against the existing authorities; it equally app dicahle to the acts of the supreme authorities against ere people. We. obey the government for the sake of the .protection which it affords. Remove the protection, and obedience should cease. if e,„ supreme authority proceed a point further, and abuse the laws, resistance then become a duty. Now this subversion of the laws by the supreme authority, I call rebellion against the people. Charles the First rebelled against the people and their laws; he was unsuccessful, and died a rebel's death. G -rugs the Third, in like manner rebelled against the people sf America; and lie was shorn of his duminions. Charles the Tenth of France rebelled against his people and their laws ; the people plevailed, and As rebel King tied from justice. Aud should William the Fourth, listening to evil counsellors, rebel against the people of Canada and their laws, I ant sure every man in this meeting would be glad to see the same results as followed the re. hellion of hit father. '

Dr. Wale, Mr. Feargus O'Connor, Mr. White, Mr. Bell, and Colonel Thompson, spoke briefly ; and all the resolutions having bees passed, and a petition to the House of Commons adopted, the meeting was dissolved at twelve o'clock.