"But, what is the act which has awakened all those filthy curs, and put them in motion? Some persons, no matter who, but, I believe, some suffering tradesmen, in London, agreed to call a meeting of _distressed_ people in Spa-fields, in order to present a petition on the subject of their sufferings: one of the Committee, who had called this Meeting, wrote to Mr. Hunt to come and assist at it. This he did. Being there, he proposed a Petition, which was agreed to. This Petition has appeared in the _Statesman_ newspaper, to which I refer the reader; and when he has looked at it, he will be convinced, that, if the language of _moderation_ be desirable, the language of this petition is much _more moderate_ than that of almost any petition, which has recently appeared in print. Upon what _ground_, then, is this outrageous abuse founded? The Meeting separated very quietly; never did any Meeting partake less of riotous behaviour. In the evening of the same day, a mob of boys and others attacked some _bakers'_ and _butchers'_ shops. But, whose fault was this? Was it Mr. Hunt's, who seems to have spent a quarter of an hour in endeavouring to convince his hearers, _that to commit such acts was to prove themselves unworthy of relief_; or, was it the fault of those pestiferous vehicles of falsehood, the _Courier_ and the _Times_, who are incessantly _inveighing against the avarice of bakers and butchers_? "It is clear, that these proceedings of the evening had no connection with the Meeting, but, on the contrary, that every thing which was said at the Meeting had a natural tendency to prevent them. As to the _attack on the office of the Morning Chronicle_, that might possibly arise out of what Mr. Hunt said at the Meeting. And, what then? Was he to endure the calumnies, the unprovoked calumnies, of that paper _for years_, and never reply a word? It would have _cost him hundreds of pounds_ to cause to be published in that paper _answers_ to a hundredth part of the base attacks upon him contained in that same paper. And, was he never to answer in any way? Was he, when he had a hundred thousand men within his hearing, to abstain from expressing his indignation at the conduct of that paper, lest, by possibility, the indignation might be catching? _The Morning Chronicle_, _The Courier_, and _Times_, make no scruple to endeavour _to cause him to be knocked in the head_; they point him out for either hanging or murdering; they are ready beforehand with an apology for any one who may take his life. And is he, who can find no entrance into their columns, without covering his paragraph with gold, to abstain from uttering a word against them when he comes before a public meeting, lest the people should espouse his cause and demolish their windows? Whence have _they_ derived this privilege of assaulting him with impunity? He has no newspaper in his hands.