so far to comply with the request of the petitioners as to send Four
Thousand Pounds as a subscription to the Spitalfields Soup Committee. The
resolutions proposed by me, and unanimously passed by the most numerous
meeting ever held in this country, avowed the principle of UNIVERSAL
SUFFRAGE; and the petition to the Regent claimed his pecuniary assistance,
as an immediate and temporary relief; but declared that the petitioners
had no hope or expectation of permanent prosperity and happiness, till a
reform of Parliament was effected, which would give to _every man_ a vote
in the representation. This was, therefore, the first time that _universal
suffrage_ was petitioned for at a public meeting; and I had the honour,
and I shall ever feel a pride in the reflection, of being the first man
who publicly proposed at a meeting of the reformers this measure, and of
having caused to be presented the first petition to the throne, praying
the Prince to assist the people in recovering their right of universal
suffrage, in the election of members of the House of Commons. You must all
recollect the infamous manner in which I was attacked and assailed by the
whole of the daily London Press at that time, with the single exception of
_the Statesman_. However, the reformers of the north, south, east, and
west, became instantly alive to the appeal that was made to them in the
resolutions passed at Spa Fields; public meetings were held, and petitions
to the House of Commons were signed, all praying for _universal suffrage_;
and, by the time of the meeting of Parliament, the delegates from
petitioning bodies came up to town, in consequence of a circular letter
signed by Sir Francis Burdett, to consult, and to settle upon the extent
of suffrage and other matters to be recommended, for the adoption of all
the petitioning bodies of reformers throughout the country. This was most
unnecessary, for they had, _one and all_, already adopted the principle,
and followed the example, set them by the inhabitants of the metropolis at
Spa Fields. When the delegates were arrived from _Scotland, Yorkshire,
Lancashire,_ and most of the counties in the north, from _Bath, Bristol,_