Ebt Country.
The Birmingham Reformers mustered in great force on Monday, in the Town-hall, to petition Parliament to reject the Lyndhurst Bill. The requisition to the Low Bailiff to call the meeting (the High Bailiff having refused), was signed by more than 100 gentlemen ; and it is said that the list " contained more of the wealth and worth of Bir- mingham than any that ever was appended to a similar document, and of these a very large proportion were men whom only some important crisis could have called forth." The Tories made an effort to thwart the Liberals, by secretly collecting a large number of their partisans. With this view, the Secretary of the Conservative Club issued a cir- cular, calling upon the friends of the Church and the Monarchy to attend the meeting punctually at one, and make a stand against the
aggressions of" the Republican, the Papist, and the Infidel." The result of these exertions was the appearance of about 150 Tories, among 10,000 Reformers. One of their number, named Gutteridge, proposed a series of counter-resolutions, for which about fifty bands were held up. The Liberal resolutions were carried, therefore, all but
unanimously. The meeting lasted from two o'clock till seven. As a specimen of the tone which prevailed in this vast assembly, we quote the following passage from the speech of Mr. Redfern—
He never would consent that the liberty of the People should be destroyed in order that a mere handful of Protestants might fancy themselves of equal weight with seven millions of Roman Catholics. The Lords, however, were de- termined to have no more changes in the bill ; and the House of Commons had determined to put themselves completely in the right and the Lords in the wrong. For this purpose, the Commons had consented to Some modifications, and the Lords must either reject or accede to then). If the Lords should accept the bill with the modifications, well and good ; a great benefit would be accom- plished for Ireland ; the popular interest there would be strengthened and O'Connell would be sure of his return for Dublin. " But perhaps it may be asked what if they should reject the bill ? Why, then, 1 have no hesitation
in saying—I venture to prophesy—I prophesy with as stroll a conviction as though the result were now present to my senses—that such a storm, such a hurricane of indignation, will be conjured up, as will never, never cease to blow until it has blown down their House."
The following petition to the House of Commons was adopted by the meeting-
" That, in the opinion of your Petitioners, no political truth is better esta- blished than that a popular and responsible system of local Government is emi-
nently conducive to the maintenance of liberty and the preservation of the public peace. That, had any doubts been entertained of the soundness of this maxim, they must have been effectually removed, by a review of the happy effects that have resulted from the acts lately passed for Reforming the Corpo- rations of England and Scotland. " That, since the substitution of a pure for a corrupt system of Municipal Government has been productive of so much advantage and satisfaction in Great Britain, the denial of a similar system to Ireland, in the opinion of your Petitiouers, is utterly indefensible on any principle of justice or sound policy. " That your Petitioners have witnessed with great pain the glaring injus- tice habitually manifested by a majority of the Upper House of Parliament, in their treatment of measures for the civil and religious improvement of Ireland ; and especially in the alterations made by that majority in the Bill fur regulating Irish Municipalities. " May it, therefore, please your honourable House to reject those alterations, or any modification of them that would withhold from Ireland a substantial sys- tem of Reform in its Municipal Government, and to persevere in yonr determi- nation to extend to that punt of the United Kingdom the full and free participa- tion of national advantages to which, by every principle of the constitution, it is indisputably entitled."
On this occasion the men of Birmingham have been rather slow to move in behalf of Ireland ; but the movement, when it did take place,
was one of those energetic demonstrations which carried the Reform
Bill in 1S3-2. We agree with the Morning Chronicle in warning the Reform Members of the House of Commons, that by and by there may be danger in rousing the people for nothing, Barren majorities, that produce no practical effects, will not satisfy the people. The Reforming constituencies have not sent Members to Parliament for the purpose of coquetting with the Lords, or compromising popular rights.
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