"East London" has "demonstrated" this week in favour of Reform
at the Standard Theatre. All the "great guns" invited were absent. Mr. Newton was in the chair. Ile asked :
"What did Lord John Russell want? Did he wish to see the seditious, incen- diary, and almost insurrectionary proceedings of 1831 revive again ? (' If looks like it,' and cheers.) Was it the conduct of true statesmen thus to appeal to the passions of the people? Well, perhaps the people had been slumbering too !mg. But when they awoke, would they entrust the care and conduct of their Interests to such men se Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell ? (' No, no.')" Mr. Slack said the e.tate of things in France and America was referred to as a warning to England against going forward in the course of Reform. But the state of things iu both those couutries was entirely owing to the exclusive plaviler,es of the aristocracy. Indeed, the southern slaveholder of America was very similar in position to the feudal. landholder in this country, amid the disruption of the United States 'was entirely caused by the aristocrats of the
Southern States. Lord Teynliani, who was received with loud cheers, said that when one man looked in the face of another man, whether high or low, he looked upon an equaL They were all equal, for they were all taxecL Ile advised the formation of a great political union. Mr. Washington Wilks said :
"Let them join this political union, let them sign the petitions which would be prepared for their signatures—and let thein be ready fur the 10th of April. (Cheers) ) They. knew the significance of that. They must avenge that horrid day, not by tumult and violence, but by the exhibition of numbers. Let there be present on that day, if possible, at the House of Commons. But if' they could not be present, let them at least sign the petitions; and if not to-day, they must soon get all they asked for. Let them make a solemn lenge° and covenant on this greet question, and let them resolve never to dissolve that league till it was made unnecessary by success. (Cheers.)" Reform meetings have also been held at Manchester and Salford, At Manchester, Mr. Robert Cooper, an old ultra Chartist appeared between Mr. Bagley, Itf.P., and Dr. Watts, a local celebrity. Mr. Cooper denounced "Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston, and seemed to desire a Tory Government. "Gentlemen" were assailed by all the speakers, and the tone of the meeting was instinct with class antagonism.
Huddersfield has also held a meeting to promote Reform. The only note-worthy incident at this gathering was that the principal speaker Mr. Leathern, Mr. Bright's relative, most bitterly assailed both Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston, and intimated that a Tory Govern Meat which would be a government on sufferance would be preferable to that of either. This is significant.
Previous page
