ABSTRACT
Despite internal dissension caused by the resolve of the LCS to hold a general meeting, the Society advertised on 14 July 1797 its intentions to hold the gathering seventeen days later (see London Corresponding Society. Notice is hereby given, that a general meeting of this Society, and other friends of parliamentary reform in London … will be held on Monday, the 31stinst. (1797) in the Broadsides section of this volume). In the days leading up to the general meeting government officials declared it was in contravention of the Seditious Meetings Act of 1795 in an effort to discourage radical supporters from attending (on the government’s repressive legislation see Debates on the Treasonable Practices and Seditious Meetings Bill (1795) in Volume 6). The LCS responded to these accusations with this work as well as a printed announcement on the day of the general meeting (see Address of the London Corresponding Society to the country (1797) in the Broadsides section of this volume). The general meeting proceeded as planned and, despite its peaceful nature, five LCS members were arrested but subsequently released without trial on bail (see A narrative of the proceedings at the general meeting of the London Corresponding Society, held on Mon- day, July 31, 1797, in a field, near the veterinary college, St. Pancras, in the county of Middlesex. Citizen Thomas Stuckey, president (1797) in the Pamphlets section of this volume).
