ABSTRACT
The meeting was the last outdoor gathering of the Society and had been advertised since 14 July 1797. The need to issue an Address of the London Corresponding Society (LCS) to the country was, in part, brought about by the polarization of members within the LCS on the issue of holding a general meeting. The government, moreover, had publicly denounced the general meeting as illegal in an attempt to discourage curious onlookers and this broadside was one of two publications issued to ensure the people of the meeting's continuance and legality. Although the meeting proceeded peacefully, the authorities arrested five LCS members who spoke on the day but each was subsequently released on bail and never charged. Meeting (which proceedings we conceive to be illegal) it is our determination still to persevere in the same peaceable manner, while there remains any Law to which we can look for protection.
