tude which has been assumed by the Common Council. This meeting has learned, with no less surprise than regret and mortification, that the Common Council of this city, last night, by a vote of seven to four, assumed to grant permission for the holding of a State Abolition Convention on the 21st instant, at the place where we are now assembled. It is this vote which has brought the present meeting together; a vote, for which we see nothing like a justification, nor indeed an apology, and whichi, looking to the previous acts and declarations of several of the Aldermen who sustained it, is wholly inconsistent with those acts and declarations.*

Therefore, Resolved, That the said vote of a majority of said Common Council is regarded by this meeting, not only as a flagrant usurpation of power, as that body has no rightful authority to grant such permission, but as a direct indignity to the good citizens of this place.t

* The Aldermen who voted for this resolution are far from deserving this insinuation of inconsistency. The respect and esteem which they receive from the community where they are known, is well worth the emulation of the best among their traducers.

+ Seven Aldermen voted for the resolution and four against it. One member of the Council, who is distinguished for his firmness and integrity, and a fearless discharge of his duties, who was absent at the time the resolution was passed, afterward expressed his regret that he was deprived of the satisfaction of adding his own vote to those by which it was carried. It is now pretty well understood, that this violent and unwarrantable opposition to the authority of the Common Council, and the ungenerous aspersions cast upon the members of that body, were employed by a few individuals as a political movement, to obtain, by stratagem, what they had not been able to obtain by fair and open conduct-a political ascendency in the city-by producing among the citizens disaffection and distrust toward those with whom they had intrusted the administration of its affairs, and it is exceedingly to be regretted that many well-meaning persons were seduced into the measure. The scheme, however, totally failed, and Haman has been hanged upon the same gallows that he had erected for Mordecai. The originators of this crusade against all that is valuable in society are looked upon by the respectable and virtuous portion of the community where they reside, (and Utica, it is believed, is not behind other cities in respect to the virtue and respectability of its inhabitants) with a calm and deliberate expression of scorn and contempt.

Resolved, That we highly approve of the course which the Mayor of this city has taken upon this exciting subject; a course, in the judgment of this meeting, not less the dictate of a proper self-respect, than of sound patriotism and public virtue.

Resolved, That we proffer to the minority of the Common Council who opposed the adoption of the resolution to which we have before referred, an expression of the thanks and the cordial approbation of this meeting.

Resolved, That this meeting, unmoved by passion or prejudice, but influenced only by a just regard for itself, and for what is due to the quiet and repose of the whole community, will not submit to the indignity of an abolition assemblage being beld in a public building of the city, reared as this was, by the contributions of its citizens, and designed to be used for salutary public objects, and not as a receptacle for deluded fanatics or reckless incendiaries.*

Resolved, That it is the incumbent duty of every citizen to make use of all lawful and proper measures to arrest the disgrace which would settle upon this city by the public assemblage of the Convention appointed to be held on the 21st instant; and that when this meeting adjourns, it will adjourn to meet on that day at nine o'clock, A. M. at this place.†

On the motion of D. Wager, Esq.

Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by its officers, and published in the Oneida Whig, Utica Observer, Baptist Register, and Evangelical Magazine.‡

The meeting was then adjourned by the President to the 21st instant, at nine o'clock, A. M. at the same place.

RUDOLPH SNYDER, President.

John C. Devereux, Ephraim Hart, Ezra
S. Barnum, Kellogg Hurlburt, Adam
Bowman, Nich. Smith, John B. Pease,

Vice Presidents.

Isaiah Tiffany, W. C. Noyes, Secretaries.

The violence which is here threatened, it has been seen, was fully executed.

We have already seen what "lawful and proper measures" were employed.

The Evangelical Magazine and Baptist Register would willingly forego the honour: they condemn these proceedings.

This W. C. Noyes is the City Attorney, and was elevated to that station by those very men whose characters he has thus

No. IV.

GREAT CONSERVATIVE MEETING,

Of "the citizens of Utica, not abolitionists, but nevertheless in favour of maintaining the supremacy of the laws at all times, and under all circumstances, and who are opposed to any abridgment of the right of free and temperate discussion, guarantied by the constitution," held at the court-room of the academy, Tuesday evening, Oct. 20, 1835, pursuant to a solemn and deliberate resolve of a committee of thirty citizens.

The meeting was organized by appointing Bradford Seymour, Chairman, H. Nash, E. M. Gilbert, and Dr. J. P. Batchelder, assistant Chairmen; John Bradish, Esq. James Sayre, and James M'Gregor, Secretaries.

On motion of Mr. H. Bushnell, the following persons were appointed a committee to draft resolutions, and present to the meeting; Dolphus Bennet, Horace M. Hawes, Esq., T. B. Dixon, Dr. Rathbun, and Andrew Hanna.

The committee retired, and after a short recess (during which the agitators of tumult, who had come to the meeting, produced some disorder and confusion) returned, and reported by H. M. Hawes, Esq. their chairman, the following preamble and resolutions.

Preamble ;-Whereas, freedom of speech and of the press, and of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, are guarantied by the constitution, and cannot in any wise be abridged without striking a death blow to our liberties, therefore,

Resolved, that we will maintain the supremacy of the laws by all legal and proper means; resisting every attempt to invade said right, and will on all occasions, and by all just means, protect every member of the American republic, in the free, tempe rate, and undisturbed use of the same, (hissing and clamour, by the agitators, "hustle him out.")

Resolved, that for the protection of the constitutional rights of our

wantonly traduced. It is by the favour and indulgence of that body which he is here villifying, that he has a voice and participation in their counsels. The act of meanness which he is guilty of has few parallels.

southern brethren, and preservation of the union of these states, we pledge "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour."

Resolved, that we make the like pledge for the protection of the constitutional rights of every American citizen, whether his condition be high or low, whether he inhabit an humble cottage or sit in a chair of state.

Resolved, that the laws of the land, which the people themselves have enacted, are supreme in their authority, and ought to be held sacred and inviolable by every American citizen, and that as we deem the prevalence of this sentiment; the only solid basis upon which our free institutions, our property, our lives, or our liberties can rest with safety, we shall look upon any attempt to promulgate a contrary one with an indignant frown.

The report of the committee was accepted, and a motion made and carried, that the resolutions be considered separately. A motion was then made for the adoption of the first resolution, which was carried by a large majority, (although an attempt was made by the "agitators" to raise a clamour which should prevent the motion being put).

A motion was therefore made for the adoption of the next resolution. It was opposed by A. G. Dauby, in a manner that plainly indicated what he intended should follow, and as soon as he had become seated, a large number of boys and men of loose character, who had come to the meeting for the purpose, and who only waited for the signal, set up a stamping aud yelling, which entirely interrupted the proceedings. Several worthy mechanics (the mechanics had been principally instrumental in calling the meeting, and had been most active in conservative measures), arose and appealed to the pride of their fellows for the preservation of order and decorum, but they were immediately clamoured down by the "agitators," and through the efforts of A. G. Dauby, R. B. Miller, W. A. Hinman, and some other leaders of the "agitators," all attempts to restore order were counteracted, and a motion, as a last expedient, was made and carried for adjournment, amid the menaces of the mob. Individuals who had advocated the resolutions, were threatened with violence, but were protected from injury by their friends. As some vile calumniators have represented, that this meeting was designed to favour the schemes of the abolitionists, the officers thereof take occasion to declare upon their

veracity, as men of truth and honour, that the assertions from what source soever it may have eminated, is a base falsehood.*

ABOLITION CONVENTION-MEETING OF THE CITIZENS-ADJOURNMENT OF THE CONVENTION, SINE DIE.

At an adjourned meeting of the citizens of Utica, held on the 21st October, 1835, at 9 o'clock, A. M., pursuant to a resolution of the meeting held on the 17th inst., RUDOLPH SNYDER, Esq. was appointed President, and JOHN C. DEVEREUX, EPHRAIM HART, EZRA S. BARNUM, KELLOGG HURLBURT, ADAM BOWMAN, NICHOLAS SMITH, and JOHN B. PEASE, Vice Presidents; and on motion of D. WAGER, Esq.; ISAIAH TIFFANY and WILLIAM C. NOYES, were chosen Secretaries.

On motion of J. Watson Williams, Esq.,

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the Chair to report resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting, whereupon the Chair appointed Messrs. J. Watson Williams, Chester Hayden, George J. Hopper, Rutger B. Miller, and Harvey Barnard such committee.

That committee, after a short recess, by its chairman, J. Watson Williams, reported the following preamble and resolutions, which, on motion, were unanimously adopted:—

The citizens of Utica having, on the evening of the 17th instant, expressed their decided disapprobation of the vote of the Common Council of the city granting the use of the Court-rooms to the

*The pretence that this meeting was designed to favour the abolitionists, it is believed, came only from a few individuals, who have no just claims to characters, for truth or honesty. This was probably the largest meeting ever assembled in Utica, on any occasion. Of its character and designs the public will judge from the report of its proceedings. The sentiments contained in the resolutions reported, cannot fail to meet the cordial approbation of every lover of his country.