Star. — London, England, 1819-12-04 00:00:00

the House having resumed, the ed on Monday. DF UNION. wished to put a question 'riend, on a subject of con ely, tile repeal or continua h were about to expife, as was provided they should conclusion? Those Duties ,h produce imported into tat if it was intended to do it must be done in the pre !d that he knew his Right on upon it ; but he thought cation of the Public in Ire arable Friend should have that opinion in his place. the EXCHEQUER fully lonourable Friend in think sportance. It had engaged tion of the Treasury ; but tad been thought necessary as were not completed, all to say was, that whatever .ermination of Government er continuation of the Du eir present existence by law, ler that continuation should ,•hether the Duties should be t? were questions the period not an ived. .D wished to put another ;onourable Friend. When the close of the last Session,' •een introduced by his Right regulating the distilleries of ; but were not pressed to a nce, he believed, of some hi to his Honourable Friend's the mean while the Revenue erable defalcation ; and per large capitals in distillation, What he wished to know -e of the measures that his I intended to propose to Par : Honourable Friend could it would be extremely irn large, as well as to the par- .he subject was of the utmost , that whatever might be the lament and the Legislature they would be of a perma le Lord referred to some pro m-house in Dublin, and said, tot, he could not tell, but he iidered to be very vexatious. adverting to the intimation fore by the Right Honourable F.xchequer, of the intention of se to Parliament, to continue, ne, Duties, which, according Union, were about to expire, er such a continuation could manifest infringement of the He was at a loss to conceive id be prolonged without a vio of the Union, and he should )inion of the Crown Lawyers )R of the EXCHEQUER, in )lc Baronet, said, that this was lad heard any doubt expressed interference of Parliament on lways appeared to him, that at twenty years provided for in Jnion, the continuation of the a question which might, with instice, be brought under the hament. With respect to the ;this Right Honourable Friend, tadily admitted that it involved it impgrfance, both to the Pub beAvas at that moment not ,nswir, than by referring to the teasurewhich had been brought be last Session. He was making in such information as might mend measures calculated effec existing evils. observed, that as the period to in the Articles of the Union ex )int of expiring, he trusted that vould thenceforward be made as he convenience of the Members L considerable part of the Irish transacted at home, so that that le troubled with the proceedings d that that useless piece of page mtenancy of Ireland, might be rAftGunioTrs. e ished to know whether the corn- ► to be paid to the late inhabitants ' 1g their native town, had• been ac , and whether it was intended to chief to those unfortunate persons? LE:l(i El answered, that the money red ; hut whether it had yet been ,t those for whom it was intended, vely say ; but he supposed it had. wished to know whether his Ma ad in their contemplation any in further support or relief to the understood that 4,000 of them at distress, in the districts adjoin labitations. REAGH said, his Majesty's Go ious to afford them every relief and ower ; but he could not say that any specific measure. ixerncos PRILVINTION SILL. ,REACH moved the Order' of the :o a Committee on the Bill for the of Seditious Meetings f wished the Noble Lord would ex of the alterations which it was his duce into the Bill in the Committee; Ily whether or not one of those al make it temporary in its character ? ZREAGH replied, that he must de explanation on the subject at the , as that would lead to a debate, 's were desirous to avoid. In the blanks would be filled up, and he explanation Until Monday, when it t the Bill 'Weld be recommitted. Mr. TIERNEY repeated that it was very desira ble that Honourable Gentlemen should be satisfied as to the nature of the alterations intended to be made in the Bill by the Noble Lord, and more especially with respect to the particular point he had men tioned. He had no idea how such an explanation as that which he required from the Noble Lord could possibly lead to a debate, as he trusted that the lapse of 24 hours had put the Noble Lord into a better tem per, and had diminished his wrath against the People. Lord CASTLEREAGH denied that he had ever felt or expressed any wrath against the People. He moved that the Speaker should leave the Chair. Mr. M. A. TAYLOR conceived, that at the close of the proceeding§ that morning, there was an un derstanding that the Noble Lord would, on the pre sent question, give the House a general outline of the alterations which he intended to make in the Bill —(A cry of " No, tio,"f from the Treasury Bench). — Ile had Certainly so understood ; and such a proceed ing would certainly' be very advisable. Not only himself, but many other Honourable Gentlemen were very solicitous to know the extent and nature of the alterations, which the Noble Lord intended to intro duce into the measure. Mr. TIERNEY gave notice, that in the Commit tee on Monday, he would move that the Bill should not be permanent. Mr. LANIBTON rose, not for the purpose of dis cussing the question before them, but because he felt bound to state to the House and the Country, in con sequence of a statement made by a Noble Earl in another place, that there were 14,000 or 15,000 men on the banks of the Wear and, the Tyne, ready for rebellion. Without in any way accusing those from , whom the Noble Earl received his information, of whom he (Mr. Lambton) had no knowledge, or sup posing, for a moment, that the Noble Earl made the statement in any other than the most temperate man ner, yet, esiding, as he did, in that neighbourhood; em ploying many of the inferior classes of the population, as he did ; and representing the County of Durham, as he did, he felt himself imperatively called upon to declare, that, from all the observation which he had been enabled personally to make, and from all the information which he had derived from his agents, there did not appear the slightest reason to believe that the assertion was founded in truth. He was bound to state this, as it might otherwise be sup posed that his silence implied a concurrence in the accuracy of the Noble Lord's declaration. He wished also to state, with reference to the assertion cited in the debate of last night, that 700 men, with con cealed arms, proceeded from a village, three miles from Newcastle, to the Meeting near that town on the 11 th of October, that he entirely agreed with the Honourable Member for Northumberland in say ing, that, from all the information which he had been able to procure on the subject, not one of the individuals alluded to was armed. Before he left that part of the country, he took all 'the means in his power to obtain information on the subject of the supposed secret manufacture of arms. It had been stated to him by the foreman of a large iron manu factory in the neighbourhood, that he considered it impossible that any arms could be secretly manufac tured by the workmen there employed; for that the raw material was weighed out to them in the first in stance, and the manufactured article weighed when completed. It was impossible, therefore, that they could use any of the iron belonging to their em ployers, and, in his opinion, they were too poor to purchase iron. He sincerely believed, therefore, that from the stigma of being engaged in any such atro cious pi actice as that imputed to them, the population of his neighbourhood was entirely free. Goo forbid that he should say the Noble Earl did not implicitly believe the statement which he had made ; but he had probably received his information from persons not entitled to credit. It had been suggested to hirti by some of his Honourable Friends, that he ought to name the Noble Earl. It was the Earl of Strath more. Although the inferior classes in his neigh bourhood were firmly and enthusiastically attached to the cause of Reform, he was persuaded they en tertained no hostility towards the Constitution and the Government. Sir M. W. RIDLEY begged to be allowed to men:: tion a few facts, illusttative of the real character of the Meeting which had been held in the neighbour hood of Newcastle. He was peculiarly anxious to do this, from the general impression, that many of the persons attending the Meeting at Newcastle, on the 11th of October, were inhabitants of Newcastle itself. He had been particularly requested by the inhabitants of that town to state, that there was scarcely a single person present at.the Meeting who was really an inhabitant householder of Newcastle., The Meeting was held on the Town Moor, being the only place thereabouts sufficiently large for the pur pose. The great number assembled, owing to the neighbourhood being unaccustomed to such assemblies, excited considerable alarm. Regarding ns the assertion that there were 3 0 , 000 or 40,000 pe present, he took upon him to state, from the information of an in dividual who was present, and saw the Radicals march ing in a body into the town, that they did not exceed 7000 in number. N‘ hen they leached the Moor, and saw the Assembly, and the kind of persons who were likely to take the lead in it, the greater part of them, turi-..d off, and went away, dispersing very peaceably. On the best information and inquiry, he was per suaded that there were no persons with arms present. He also wished to state, with reference to the other subject me,utioned by the Mayor of Newcastle in his, letter to Loid Sidmouth, namely, the turbulent con , duct of the k.nelmen, that it had uo connection what ever with the disaffection which was supposed to exist in that part of the country. It happened, about the period of the Meeting, that there was an unfortunate disagreement between the keelmen and the ship owners. He had little doubt that the Meeting was I fixed by the leaders for the llth of October, in the] hope that they would be joined by the unemployed) ,keelmen. it was highly creditable to the keelmen, l that those who did attend the Meeting were influ enced only by curiosity, and took no part in the pro ceedings. He had that morning received a letter from the Secretary of a Society, calling . itself the So ciety of Political Protestants in that neighbourhood, a part of which he thought himself bound in justice to read. It could scarcely be necessary for him to ob • serve, that he believed the principles of such a Society were most mischievous, and that he was determined to do all that he could to put such principles down ; but as the letter to which he had alluded disavowed . . any arming on the part of the Reformers, he would read a passage froM it, which was as follows :—" We challenge our most inveterate opponents to say that we have, in a single instance, evinced a spirit of dis: loyalty. Our Meetings hive been open, and we have, occasionally, had the hollow of the company', of the Officers of the Police. Our books and papers' are to be seen by all who choose to look at them.— As to the accusation of our having concealed arms, we are persuaded that his worship, the Mayor of Newcastle, has been misinformed on that subject. — We are not quite such fools as some persons take us to be. We know that it is the tight of every English man openly to have arms and we also know, that•to conceal arms is illegal. If, therefore, we wished to have arms, we should buy them openly,• and hang them up in our houses. Our object is not Revolu tion, but Reform." Of course, be could not pledge himself to the truth of one word which he had read, but he had thought that justice to the persons in question required that he should state their own cha racter of themselves. L',rd CASTLEREAGH observed, that ,whether the 700 men who marched to Nev; castle' from a neighbouring village .were armed or not, was imma terial.. What had fallen from the Honourable Ba ronet was perfectly sufficient to shew that there were abundant grounds for apprehension and vigilance.— That a Meeting of between aO,OOO and 10,000 per sons had asseitibled, of whom 7,000 formed a regu larly organized body, was a fact on which comment. would be superfluous. The Horl'se then resolved itself into the Committee. The blanks in the Bill were filled up ; the House re sumed ; the Report was brought up, and the Bill was ordered to be recommitted on Monday. • NEW STAMP DUTY. Lord CASTLEREAGH brought, in a Bill for making cer tain Publications subject to the same Ditties of Stamps as News papers, and to restrain the abuses arising from the publication of Blasphemous and Seditious Libels. On the motion that the Bill be read a first time, Mr. BROUGHAM declared, that considering the Bill to in flict a permanent injury on one of the main pillars of our Liberty, by abridging the freedom of the Press, he felt it his duty not to allow the first stage of such a measure to pass without enter ing his decided protest against ir. The gill was then read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time on Thursday.—Adjourn ed to Monday. CELEBRATION OF CORBETT'S RETURN TO ENGLAND. Yesterday a Public Dinner was given at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the Strand, by the friends of Mr. CORBETT, to that Gentleman, in consequence of his return to this Country, HEsitY HUNT, Esq. in the Chair. The tables were laid for only two hundred; but long before the time announced for the Chair t© be taken, the room was completely filled, and soon after five o'clock, upwards of four hundred persons sat down to dinner. The assemblage, upon the whole, was certainly of a very different complexion to those we have been accustomed to see on similar occasions, being for the most . part composed of respectable tradesmen. Mr. COBBETT entered the room accom panied by one of his sons , Mr. H U NT, Mr. \VEST, MT. BRYANT, Mr. HADEN, Mr. TIPPER, Mr. G'ILES, and several other persons, and was received with clap ping of hands, succeeded by vehement acclamations. The cloth having been removed, Mr. HUNT (as Chairman) begged to make a few observations before he proceeded to put the toasts: — He congratulated them on the numbers assembled, though there had not been a single ticket given away, nor one person invited except by public advertisement. There was nia hired music, no hired singer, nor had a single person been brought into the room except by his own free will. He regretted that they had not had more time for arrangement ; if they had, he ob served, they would net have been obliged to turn away four or five hundred persons, as they had new been obliged to do. They were met to celebrate the return of their fellow-citiaen, Mr. Cobbett, to his na tive country, after an absence of two years--(Cheers), and they had done themselves the highest credit in coming forward as they had done. It was a proof of 'their enthusiasm in the good cause; for there was no ' , enticement made use of, no exhibition of a man of title, not even a solitary M.P.—but all, at least as I fax as he knew, of " the Lower Orders !" as their I enemies called them—( Cheers and laughter). He congratulated them, also, that among so large an assembly he did not see a single bottle of wine—a I ! c i rcu m s tance which gave reasonable hope that the y I should not be charged with drunkenness among their other crimes —( Laughter). He trusted they would adhere to this temperance; and the present occasion would prove, in the true acceptation of the words— " the feast of reasen and the flow of soul !" He then gave— " Nay the wrongs of a greatly injured and suffering People be productiire of union, courage, and persever a nce" which was drank with three times three. About this time, Mr. WOOLER entered the room, and was immediately introduced to Mr. CORBETT by Mr. HUNT, who, with a g ood deal of ceremony, placed their hands within each other, whilst all the assembly stood up and cheered. The, applause having subsided, Mr. HUNT said, they had now seen the last sentiment realised, in part ,at least, for they had seen union!—(Cheers) —and with such a union the Radical Reformers might defy tile whole world—(Loud acclamation). After some further observations, he proposed— " The health of William Cobbett, the ardent and zealous de. fender of our rights and liberties, by whose luminous and incom parable writings the public opinion of.the People of this country bas undergone a change unparalleled in the history of the world:: This having becn drank with almost nine times nine— Mr. CossErr ascended the table, and returned his sincere thanks for the honour ; at the same time, kobserved, he did not feel that he was altogether un , worthy of it. To judge rightly of ourselves was a , duty we owed to others as well as ourselves, and by under-rating his own exe rtions he would be paying the company assembled a very ill compliment. He hoped they would not flatter themselves that it was, in his power to do much in the cause of Relorm ; tarl he feared that at the present none of them could do' much. It was , one consolation, however; that what had been done could not be easily undoner and he was glad that they considered him a successful labourer. He did not wish to advert to his own difficulties, nor to the rancour of his enemies ; the road' to eminence was abrupt and rugged, and he that Could not en dure the labour of surmounting the rocks and diffi culties of the way, must - be content td remain in the low and level way of obscurity. He felt no anger against his calumniators, such as The Times, for in• . . . . . .. stance, for he was wrong himself once, and he hoped • to live to hear them confess their errors—(Cheers).--:- He then commented at some length on the present . state of Reform, and expressed his surprise that the new term of Radicals should be applied to Reformers, when, in fact, they held exactly the same principles . as heretofore. As to the probability of obtaining - Reform in Parliament, or satires the time in which - it might'be expected, it would be preiumptuous in him to . speak with any attempt at certainty ; but he was of opinion, it never would come till 'those in power should be convinced that they could no longer carry on the funding system —( Cheers). lie had 'long-been of opinion, that Ministeri knew nothing at all of this matter ; and he vas more convinced than ever by reading in the Paper s a speech made by Lord Castlereagh the other night. That profound person—V. aieshter)—had found out, it appeared, by 0 I some means or other, that there was great distress in America, which was the cause of the distress in Eng land, and he'prayed the LORD that prosperity might I return to America in the forlorn hope that she might I by that means reach England by some circuitous. route!—(Laugker). No doubt the distresses of America might have some partial effect on the coin= inercial speculators of England; but what then, were Englishmen to be dungeoned and gagged because a shabby Quaker or two in America tumbles down .. *with his paper about his ears—(Loud laughter).— He then drew a comparison between the state of this country and that of the United States, and asserted, that a man might keep his coach, his horses, servants, handsome house, and liberal table, for less than it would cost him for taxes and poor-rates in England: Of the current finances of the country, 'he observed, he could judge but little at present, though he bet !Weed there was the deficiency stated in the public tapers; but of one thing he was quite certain, that, be - this as it might, there would be a deficiency, And a very great one, if they (the Reformers) persevere& in the course they had commenced, of abstaining from articles highly taxed. It would ill become him to advise so enlightened an assembly, but he would venture to recommend to them to discontinue the use of spirits, wine, tea, coffee, and tobacco; and; very shortly, he intended to publish some recipes which might supply the place of most of them. He begged them to say, whether he himself looked like a sickly person.? and yet he assured them, since he left England not a single drop either of wine or spi rits had entered his lips. He was convinced, that hif the Reformers alone were to abstain Ink in part 1 from the articles he had mentioned for only one year, it would compel their enemies to offer-terms -6-(Loud cheers). —The enemies of Reform would have it that the Reformers meant something which they did not say ; but they would take it very hard if their solemn assertions Were not to be believed. For his own part, he had never in his life co-operated with any man who meant more than he professed, and he solemnly declared; that could he displace the Kingly Government to-morrow, and establish a Republican one in its stead, he would not do it. Petry tyrants were the worst of tyrants, and they were too often to be found in Republican • Governmentt.—Mr. Cobs bent then made some short allusions to his mOtivis for quitting England, expressing it as his decided opinion; that, unless he had, he could not now have continued to have written. He expressed his grati tude to America for the asylum afforded hi - m,•and concluded by giving the following toast— " Happiness and prosperity to the United States, and to the . State of New York in particular," ' Mr. WOosen proposed the health of Mr. Hunt, which was drank with three times three. Mr. Ihnsr returned thanks, and defended himself from the imputation of being connected with Carlile. Ile declared he did not know him, but from the chance alone of hayisg a cause of his own in the King's Bench, he met him there npOn his trial, and from humanity assisted him. He afterwards offered to be his bail, but from no religious motive, as he declared that he ne ver read or even heard the works of Toni Paine, until the trial of Carlile took place. He had learnt at one time to detest that man, having seen his effigy burnt, in his youth ; and he would add, that if his mind was not made up on the subject, thd conduct of the Deists, in not bailing Carlile, would at once determine that point. He finally recom. mended abstinence and early hours to`the Reformers. Hot water and ginger had served him for a complaint in the stomach, instead of gin ! " The health of Lord Cochrane, and success to the South American Patriots," with other similar toasts, were all, as usual, drank in water during the evening. But it is only justice to state, that a s pore harmonious Meeting could not exist than this was, and every set- son agreed to relinquish the use of exciseable articles, such as tea, &c. for a given period. Dining dinner, the only liquor was common table beer, with the ex' ception of a few pots. of porter. About half past nine o'clock the Chairman wished the Company good night, when in less than five minutes the room was completely empty. A Deputation of Members of the Court of •Corn 4 mou Council waited upnn the Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR, at the Mansion House, yesterday, with a Requisition, very respectably signed, of which the follosaiug is a Copy " To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor—We, the uri;• dersigned Members of the Court of Common Council, request your Lordship to convene a Court upon an early day, to consi der the propriey of petitioning Parlioncot against those alarm ! . ing measures now under discussion in Parliament, which may tend to abridge the Constitutional Rights of the People, and.ta restrain the Liberty of the Press." • His Lordship received the Deputation with the greatest politeness and affability, acceded with great readiness to their liequisition, and has directed a Court of Common Council to be summoned upon that subject for Monday next, at twelve o'clock at noon. A Requisition is handing about *for signature in Southwark, for a Meeting of the Electors, respecting the new Laws which are- the House. It is a lamentable- fact, Portsea have to keep seven Toners, men, women, an! the poorhouse, artiouati, In Ringwood v.:ork-hou: united ages amount to 965 Thomas Liddell, who at the last Dover Session! of Mrs. MAnsTEN, ! during the pleasure of his REGENT. 1 1. , l et I i . 0 . 1 A i i • i . f • . i• ' • • ~ 1 • ii 1 1 !• t , iil ), ' . : i 1 „ 1 • , ( i , ire• now passing in the Honse. fact, that the householders of seven thousand pauper parish.. and children, besides those in sting to nearly seven hundred ! •house, there are 12 men, whose ) 965 years. who received sentence of dead; .ions, for a burglary in the house t Broadstairs, has been respited t . his Royal Highness the PR t NCI • • • . • • V