The Liberals of Bath bad a meeting on the 29th,
to take into consi- deration " the conduct of the Lords in opposing all salutary reforms, and more particularly in refusing to grant municipal corporations to Ireland." The Mayor took the chair. Ile opened the business of the day by an energetic denunciation of the treatment by the Lords of the Irish Corporation Bill. " That bill," he said, " went from the Corn- molts a bill of rights ; it came back from the Lords a bill of destrue. tion, attainder, and confiscation." , General Palmer spoke a few words ; and then Mr. Roebuck ad- dressed the meeting. He pointed out the necessity of judgment and courage, to save the country from impending danger-
" Resistance is being organized; agitation has begun ; government. in every thing but name. a ill soon be at an end, and all our many thousand troops IA ill be unable to Imaintain even the nominal dominion of England. Headed by O'Connell, I related will resist ; justice will be on her side, and success cannot fail to follow. I. as ■ our repre- sentative. intend to go as far in this course as the constitution will allow me to go. I am desirous of trying all peaceful and constitutional' means, before having recourse to harsh and restrictive measures. If these means fail,—if the Lords, deaf to all remon- strance, and listening only to the voice of selfishness, determine to continue headlong In thew present mail career,—then, gentlemen. I ant prepared for collision. (Loud cheers.) Let us understand what collision means. It means that we are prepared to take the government of the country into our hands. and to put an end to the present constitution of the House of Lords. (Loud and long-continued cheering.) If, by the mud opposition of the Lords. 1 tun driven to this extremity, the fault is not in me, but in them. They show by their conduct, that their institution is irrecomileable with the safety and wellbeing of the people; and I, therefore. as one of the guar- dians or that Welfare, am driven to the alternative of suppressing the power of the Lords." Colonel Napier said, the true question was, not whether the Irish Corporations should be reformed, but whether the Lords or the Com- mons should govern England—whether the will of the People should stand, or the will of some crazy and factious Peers be paramount.— - This is to my apprehension the true question, and the Irish Corporation Reform is but a limb of it—a subject on which to commence the business of agitation—ay, and a very good subject to begin the battle with the Lords. This being the ease. it still be wen locust our eyes awhile upon past events, that we may be the better able to judge bow we ought to proceed in the present emergency. Looking backwards. then, we see that previous to the passing of the Reform Bill—that first step for the recovery of our rights—this nation was the prey, the helpless prey, of two contending factions, namely, the Whigs and the Tories; both exceedingly rapacious, both exceedingly false, oppres- sive, and insolent ; alike in all things save that the one was always in ofliee. while the others were always out of oftice,—a difference of great importance both to them and to us, as I shall presently show you. Such was the character of the factions, but it is sery different now. The Whigs have changed, and for the better. They are no longer a faction ; they are a party, and are daily becoming more national : and how that change has been brought about, it behoves us to consider attentively, because it in wolves the very pith and marrow of the question, and w ill be the surest guide for fu- ture moceedings. The manner of it was thus : the Whigs, by reason of their long exclusion from office, perceived that they were unequal to contend with their adversa- ries—that they could never hope to regain that paradise of politicians, the Treasury bench, unless they obtained the aid of the people at large; and hence they assumed
S ite appearance of great liberality, making large promises which they never intended to keep, but which deceived many, and gained for them abundance of fellowers : but, in doing so. they gained many followers whom they would rather have been without— that is to say, persons honest anal sincere in their politics, and determined to act up to their professions. These persons did not indeed gothic full length which the People desired, but they were honest as far as they did go; and they formed the link between the leaders of the Whig faction and the leaders of the People, who are called Rath- cals.—a link so strong. that all were enabled to pull together for a time; and that first great step towards good goverutnent, the Reform Bill, was gained. The bucket was brought up out of the well. Then, indeed, the Whigs, having gained their object, which was power, began to look coldly at the Radicals, thinkine they had no longer any use
for them : anal their leader immediately. according to original corruption and tyranny of their faction, fastened with avidity on the public purse, and introduced coercive lawn, which put even the oppression of their predecessors, the Tories, in t he shade. (('heers.) Soon, however, their course was stopped. The hottest followers who composed their party opened their eyes with amazement. refused to follow in such an iniaptitous career, and once more looked to the Radicals; and these last, ever disin- terested and prompt in the cause of the country, forgot their personal wrongs, and answered to the appeal. Their united efforts drove the bad leaders from power. (Cheers.) Yes, the Greys. the Grahams, the Stauleys, anal the Althorps, were driven, as they deserved to be, from power ; and better men took their places—men mote en- lightened, more honest as politicians, and, what was of more consequence, men with corrected notions of a hat the trite meattiug of Reform was,—a word which it is now Lrceived does not in the mouths of the People mean only a change of oppressors. Cheers.) This change gained the Whigs many more folluwers, turned them from a tion into a party; • and thus the sacred cause of the country—the sacual cause of freedom—advauces, because resolute followers make honest leaders. But, gentlemen, though the present Ministers are far better titan their predecessors—though they are far more enlightened—they are not yet quite tip to the mark : they approach it, but I should say, with the exception, perhaps, of my Lord Melbourne, that they are not ignite tip to it. They linger behind at times when they should be in front—they seem like men aroused from sleep, starting when they should be acting: dodging, skirmish- ing, and sparring with the enemy, when they should grapple him at once by the throat. (Loud cheers.) You must arouse them by your encouraging shout, and even wrge them onward by your menacing cries; fur they have voluntarily offered to lead we out of the house of bondage, and they must not tarry by the way. Not that I think them treacherous, but they loiter : they would willingly feed us with manna in the wilderness, but they seem unable to lead us into the land of promise. "fo your tents. 0 Israel 1' must therefore be the cry. The shouting of the People must he beard ; and friends and enemies must be told, that if the calm voice of the legislator and the denunciation of the prophet are alike unheeded, the clash of arms and cry of war will be heard. • To your tents, 0 Israel !' for if Moses cannot lead iu the battle, Joshua cam." (Applause.)
A petition to the House of Commons, the exact purport of which is not given, was adopted ; and the meeting separated.
Meetings to petition against the Lyndhurst Bill have also been held within a few days at the following places,—Dewsbury, Selby, Dart- mouth, Wigan, Falmouth, Dover, Sunderland, Worcester, Bolton, Rochdale, Macclesfield, Leicester, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
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