Star. — London, England, 1819-11-13 00:00:00

L . " f,!:r. ;,„?.of his Majesty = subjects every relictious / i t tt they may be the More easily led to the :rane, and prepared for revolution and anarchy, copscquences, rapine, devastation, and d : s f -lir , ur (liar. therefore, at this time to declare ow de '.,; r r.:.ti,ci, and that we will use our utmost en. : to .„.. , r ;', them, and to assure your Royal Highness ~ 1e:....;,... for the Christian Religion, and our 'resolution - f: ~ ,,I r: -unt.:in that Constitution which we hays re .1.,'1,„ our al.c:irnrs, by which, under Pacsanscsims, this .. ; , c a gory, opulenci . , internal peace and hap* ~,1:: maions. . • ,Icitision there was a hiss from one or two , 11!••‘ ' - :1 a, ,• .1. ; , 0 , o .e Hall, but it was almost instantly • i in ittid and cundnued apple:mac from the rest • 11e nt. ,e Puke of MARLBOROUGH said, he felt great re in seconding the Address.—This was also , ce d by a solitary expression of disapprobation nme person in the crowd, but it produced the tik.ct as the former. tr,, x,ll num r, M.P. expressed his determination • --arse the machinations of the disaffected. He plated, with horror, the attempts made to de the conscientious bulwark which had been 4,1 in the unseduced mind of man, to guard him j hese who would tempt him to a violation of Let that bulwark be once destroyed, and •.„, a u l be left to man? He was amongst the f:lends of Civil and Religious Liberty, and, .t..er,•,!:e would raise his voice to defend that Con which secured the true and proper enjoy- Liberty. To speak of the British Con ..l,ll.—the work of human hands, as being aim rclect, would be presumption. h must, Me ranake of the infirmities of our common but it contained within itself the means of nir.7 wnv vrious public evils that might arise, ;;cued the Tedress of private injuries. This he hoped, would be handed down un ri.;ing posterity, and with this feeling he concurred in the address which had Y 7. ULF:HART said, it had been truly observed cu le of the County of Oxford had ever by their loyalty to their Sovereign 'n.iclnut . .t to the Constitution. The illustrious ' it the head of the State had not.now - to learn • slecgth of their loyalty and the strength of their ..-rtot. Knowing this, he would not now stand ed to address them if it. were not the practice •:tri? pc: sons who were opposed to the Constitu ,f.tiwly to boast that their opinions were making . [. mug the People. What they called pro-. he would call corruption.,(Here a hiu was • heard, but it was iniesedietely drowned in ap, .te.) When the disaffected boastfully exhibited :. numbers—numbers of men deluded or brought er by blind delegation, and when even, in that lii 2,:embly, something of disapprobation had intidested ; while they were about to express -r loyalty to their Sovereign, and their attach .t, tlx Constitution of their country, it became .a. , ' , .7 tz , r every man to speak out, and afford the •-...n..i . .:1 influence of his example to those valued . - 41 c : ..., which the evil disposed had dared to p:l—•.-ipp/ause). It was notoriously the fact,. that Tir.;,:,:n.i.i. long been making to substitute the will inr.:: Lis judgment, and under the pretence of. orinug our Constitution, to effect the total over- Tx' of our liberty. Those who entertained such >i1,5,..1„t:1 also laboured to put down religion. e Waal creatures had endeavoured to set up. They had thus endeavoured to give a ne , to ixiety, and to leave. man nothing to repose hr cithdrawing from him his hope in the awful .ideate of the DEITY. Happily these incendiaries IJ-enable to make but .few converts to their per!. s doctrines. They in fact defeated themselves.. • had more cautiously, but not less rancorously,. the Religion of the State, approaChing it as These, though they admitted the existence the DEITY, denied that he had ever made any com ,. catix. of his Divine will to the frail Creatures is+tailed into being. What was the object of Persons? It was obviously to destroy our in- 1 ' monitor—to take from man his conscience, h might protect him from sin: for what would !DEIT Y be to man, if no communication had ever made of hi s w ill to his creature? Man, if these ceded, would, in our state of society, become civilized savage, and a fit instrument to over te the Government, in the hands of the remorse 'kings whose desperate, bloody, and treasonable • ..:in:is it was the duty of every good man W .0 1)7 ,- (.elppfitust:).--The disaffected, in acting the , 11ich he Mid described, had not acted without 7.l,zer. nor without a precedent. They had closely .eti IL? horrible examples furnished in the course !ter:intim. Nothing had escaped their :::ey had copied even the fooleries and French Revolution, their flags liberty ; and they had seen their t I.il'ertv also, in the persons of shame. derr.lCa to the cause—(Appiesse).--He vier l•ne would see the infamous object of ;Ind :''preries and blasphemies whichhad sent al;rt,ad, and he hoped every one would erns irm e os.iLle for human reason to corn -1)111,i and his ways without revelatioo. it was impossible for small to compre- ' tn'• finite beings could not lift up 1 ,1 -;;. , :„ if some portion of sacred light :•••• , ..1 from on high, to enable them to un• vaiii:me and awful truths of our Religion. :e!cakt ! by those who called for a Parlia ! 1:e; Jrni that they had a right to Univer sal4 raB7, 'this, with Annual Parliaments, they t) gave been formerly the law of the land. .e.einent w.is historically false, and no single • • Oita a sulitary tradition could be adduced ' t;:e 3 sSerti.)ll. But if it were true that the Constitution of England, what was 4 ` ice that followed ? Why, it would fol.. • Government under which this system ,o weak and vicious in its organiza .ll't,e t :•ab:e of duration, that it had speedily wvaiot.t leaving even the fragment of a re. li:::tory to attest that it had existed—(Ap such a system, it must be the con- L‘el y man of sober judgMent, it would be that liberty could be preserved. Many ult.! the experiment (though England ` l ' 1 . 1 popular and anarchical - Revolution, :v was found to be, that the Government t,4.41,1ied could scarcely outlive a month. In inid, 4 such a system, he believed the popu- . '• v •~. ~... lace had been in the habit of setting np a tyrant, whom, m a period' as short as that which he had named, they commonly found it necessary to hang or shoot. Some person had mentioned America, as an example of Revolutionary Government. In Ame rica, Universal Suffrage was not sanctioned. There, women and children were not . allowed to vote. No body there enjoyed that right but those who paid taxes, and direct taxes too. But even if it were true that Universal Suffrage had been successfully tried in America, was the period during which this could have been the case, sufficiently extended to justify other Nations in departing from their established systems, to adopt the system of the United States? If, on the experience of '2O years, such a course were to be pursued, no Government would have time to gain strength from the changes which would be per petually taking place in its policy and formation. One proof of the goodness of the British Constitution was found in the singlefact,that it had endured for7oo years. It never could have existed so long had it been destruc tive of the liberties of mankind. If found to promote social misery, instead of lasting nearly 1000 Yeats, it could net have been sustained ter a single century.— He then descanted on the blessings flowing from the British Constitution, which, from small beginnings, had increased the happiness and renown of the People, and raised the Nation to the highest pinnacle of glory. He again condemned the proceedings of the disaffected; and, reverting to the French Revo lution, he spewed that it was not alone Royalty, but the Nobility and the great who suffered at that pe riod. The poor peasantry also had been brought to the market-places of France, like cattle to the slaughter, and decapitated. Women had been butchered in the same way ; and it had not been uncommon to tie the wretched virgin to the back of her lover, and then send both to sea and knock the keel out of the vessel, or to throw them into the river Lois!. This had been familiarly spoken of by the infamous ruffians who perpetratectsuch enot mines (and who, of course, had lost all feeling) as nothing more than a " Repub lican marriage"—(Applamse.) He hoped the People of this Country would never be guilty of such crimes; but once seduced from their duty, it was impossible to say what horrors they might not be led on to ap prove and abet. He enlarged on the calamities in separable from Revolution, again eulogized. the English Constitution, and spoke with much satisfac tion of the failure of the schemes of the Reformers in various parts of England. On reviewing the events which had transpired since the. Prince Regent had been called to exercise the functions of the So vereign, he begged to say, notwithstanding the libels by which his Royal Highness had been assailed, that impartial history would hereafter record that no British Sovereign had ever stood on a firmer basis of glory. He strongly supported the Address, though, for themselves, it was hardly necessary that they should come forward with that display of their loy alty, and of their determination to resist to the utmost the machinations of the enemies of social order and the happiness of mankind—(Loud applause.) Mr. PEERE3 said he should trespass but a few mo ments on the time of the Meeting ; he should not, perhaps, have risen upon the present occasion to ex press his sentiments, were it not for the observation that had fallen from his Learned Friend (Mr. Lock hart). He justly observed, that it was, under exist ing circumstances, the duty of every loyal and well disposed person to come forward and boldly avow his attachment to the Constitution, and his determina tion to support it against the attempts of those who 'would overturn both law and religion. This invita tion he was disposed to accept, and he came forward the more willingly to avow his entire concurrence in the Address, because he perceived some slight ten dency in the Hall to a difference of opinion. He flat tered himself that the County' of Oxford was as pure, and as free from political contagion, as any other 'County in England. There might be a few, a very few individuals, to whom it had reached; but the great majority were sound and loyal—(Applause.)— They knew the views, the machinations, and prin-, ciples of those who would overthrow every thing great and valuable both in Church and State; those views and principles they were determined to resist. Whatever difference of opinion might prevail among those who were friendly to a temperate and well considered Reform, he would not enter into them at present. Their business now was not with such a question, and it would be unnecessary to offer his sentiments on it. But with respect to Annual Par liaments, Universal Suffrage, and Election by Ballot, that mad and sweeping system, of which they lately heard so much, no man in his senses, no man in the slightest degree acquainted with political subjects, could, for a moment, suppose that society could exist under the operation of such principles, or that they were at all practicable in this or any other country. Upon this subject he should not have touched, were it not that the circumstances of the times, and the object for which they were met, naturally invited to it. Nothing could be more fallacious, nor more absurd, than the arguments of those persons who supported Vote by 13allut, and Universal Suffrage.— The former was cried up as the infallible remedy for venality, as if. under the present system, when votes were publicly and openly given, under the solemn sanction of an oath, when the name and residence of the Elector were recorded, when he had to encoun ter public opinion, and was liable, in the event of do tectldn, to opprobrium, and to the puniAmeat of venality, as if these and all other, guards were insuf ficient and nothing could secure purity of Election but vote by ballot. What security could this give against venality? Was it nut more likely, on the contrary, to be practised under a system which would take away the possibility of detection, and free tile Elector from tke• influence of every consideration which at present must operate so powerfully on his conduct? With respect to Universal Suffrage, it was ably treated• and its fallacy refuted, in the speech of his Learned Friend (Mr. Lockhart). He justly, and at the same time truly stated, that it was rejected by all the Governments of the world, from republican America to regenerated France. But Annual Par liaments were to be the great remedy of all evils— the universal panacea fur every disease that could affect the State. The persons who maintained these principles, seemed to think legislation was the most plain and easy thing in the world, that every man, every woman, and even every child was adequate to . the Sask. They reminded him of the V erbs, Poet's thee- _ tious description of Dosiferry and Verge!, who main tained, that " however difficult of attainment other qualifications might be, reading and writing came by. nature !" --(A Laugh.)--What higher degree of madness could possibly take possession of the hu man mind? He sincerely trusted that the time was not yet come when an empire, whose sway extended from the remote s t e x tremity of the earth to the other, would be entrusted to the guidance of such men, of such Parliaments as must be dismissed with the ebb and flow of every tide of popularity. From these Parliaments too, according to the principles of the enlightened Reformers of the day, were to be excluded all men in place, all those persns through whom the Government was to become responsible for its acts, through whom it was to decide upon the most im portant subjects, and to explain the grounds on which it acted. Were they to be held up to public execra tion for doing every thing in their power to promote the service, the glory, and happiness of their coun try ?—.(Applause.) Notwithstanding the obloquy cast on Parliament, he was confident that more high minded, more honourable, better inftirmed, or more public-spirited characters were no where to be found. (Applause.) It was composed of the illustrious in •birth , the wealthy, and the virtuous; of men who raised themselves to riches by their industry, men distinguished for every species of eminence for the pen as well as the sword, persons of extensive know ledge civil and political, instructed in war, com merce, agriculture, of great financial research and mechanical skill. Ile doubted much if the great towns of Birmingham, Leeds, and Manchester could be better represented, or their interests better at tended to if they returned as their Representatives, those orators who were travelling from one end of the country to the other for the purpose of declaim ing and proving to the people how greatly they were oppressed.—(A use.) —He doubted much if the medical skill of Dr. Watson would be-ably or success fully exerted to heal the wounds of the State ; or whether the other orator, so celebrated among his party, would do much by his eloquence to strengthen the integrity of the House of Commons? If a sample might be taken from what occurred at their own Meetings, very little freedom of debate could be ex pected from these gentry. At such Meetings no opi nions were listened to but their own : no person dare venture upon opposition. If he did, he was certain to be immediately cried or pulled down. Every man not of their party was a knave or a fool. There was uothing sacred in the institutions of the country, civil or religious, that they did not attack and revile.— Even the justice of Trial by Jury, the impartiality of men acting under the sacred sanction of an oath, was called in question, because an impious parodist and blasphemer was declared guilty—(Loud applause.)— lle doubted much if an assembly composed of such persons could do much towards the improvement of the State. He lamented that the late Member for Banbury was not now present. He would be the first to stand forward in defence of that Constitution handed down to by his ancestors, and of that Religion which, by his example and his virtues, he contributed so much to extend in his owil neighbour hood. He hoped he should be forgiven this tribute of respect to the name of one who was dear to all that had the happines of being known to him. Uni versal Suffrage was preached up as the panacea that was to cure every malady, and spread universal hap piness through the land, to secure the country against want, to force a market for British produce through out the world, to give a death-blow to corruption, extinguish the national debt, produce by its magic touch a total and sudden change from misery to uni versal happiness, and support the glory of the coun try upon an immovable basis, without the aid of taxa tion. Could any man, not besotted by the grossest ignorance, or stultified by vulgar declamation, ex pect for a moment that such consequences could fol low from the adoption of such a principle? The effects, on the contrary, would inevitably be to plun der the rich, and make it felony to drink small beer ! (A laugh).—To bring back the times alluded to by their great Poet, when the Parish Clerk of Chatham was ordered to the lamp-post for being found guilty of knowledge ! The experiment of Revolution was not a new one. They had a sample of it two centuries back in this country. What was the consequence? An Usurper passed through seas of blood to the pos session of guilty power, and at his death the nation, after suffering all the horrors and calamities of civil war for imaginary and unattainable good, were happy to court the return of that Prince, whose father they doomed to imprisonment and death. They witnessed another experiment of the same kind in France, where a Government of Five Hundred was soon superseded by a Government of Five—where such scenes were acted, such frightful atrocities committed, as made the heart shrink back with horror. He trusted such evils would be averted from this country, and that they would never witness such an experiment. They were to be averted by the co-operation of all ranks in opposing sedition and blasphemy, by the attention of the rich to the interests of the lower orders, by the sober consideration of the poorer classes themselves. They should reflect, that the wealthy could not be despoiled of all they possessed, without injury to the poor. They must, in consequence, be deprived of employment, of those munificent institutions for every species of misery so liberally supported by the rich. They ought to consider, that even it the Spencean Plan were carried into execution, how small the por tion must be that could fall to each individual. They should reflect also, that if they suffered, they did not suffer alone—they had no monopoly of misfortunes. The Nations of the Continent were, in all respects, l equally as much distressed at present as this, and America, even with her infant liberty, so much boasted of, and so greatly envied by some, was, at present, suffering under much greater privations and difficulties than this. Her trade was at a stand—her merchants bankrupts—her commerce unproductive; without specie, or even a paper currency of credit,-- Those who visited that country, filled with dreams of happiness and wealth, were now glad to return home, in all the bitterness of disappointment. This country was new in a state that required the vigi lance of all Interested in its welfare. Persons were active and zealous in their endeavours to persuade the People to follow the meteoric light of a fallacious philosophy in place of the Polar Star of Reason. He hoped that by their Resolutions that day, they would prove their attachment to the Religion, the Laws, and the coistitntion of the Country, that they yirmild shew those who boasted of their strength, that they, too, were not weak, that they were detertfuned to support that Constitution under which they enjoyed the greateit happiness here, and that Religion which afforded the highest comfort in this world,'and the best hope in the future—(Applarrec)—that embraced and supported by the wisest and the.best men who adorned human nature, and that Conhitu- Lion founded in wisdom, and improved by the elxpe r ience of ages—(Great applause). Mr. Mortars came forward in support of the Ad dress. It had been said long ago, " that he who goes to persuade people that they are ill-governed, will find many hearers." This maxim had proved true of late; but there never was less reasonableness or _less regard to truth, than in the conduct of those by whom it was verified : for where could we find a system of laws and institutions, framed so evidently, and ope rating so effectually, for securing every end of social order and individual advantage? In what other country could we find such munificent asylums for the relief of distress, for the cure of sickness, or the education of the poor? Where could we find such laws for the protection of property and liberty, or such a strict and just administration of them ? It would be presumption to say that any work of man was perfect ; but he would not hesitate to declare his opinion, that our Constitution bad been found on trial adequate to the promotion of every pur pose of social happiness. Yet, if we were to be lieve those who called out for Reform, we had nothing worth preserving, • unless the senseless doc trine of Universal Suffrage, which, in his opinion ; would be Univmal Anarchy, were it adopted.— Our Representation had never been founded on the basis of population without property. It was but a representation of property ; and if it were otherwfse, no property would be secure. The wealth and for tunes of the rich might first suffer from the anarchy of universal suffrage, but the poor could not long escape its baneful effects. The psitance of the latter in a Saving Bank would be. as liable to confiscation and robbery, as the largest estates, or the most accu mulated capitals. When such wild doctrines were abroad with respect to Government, when Religion was reviled and scoffed at, and when we witnessed such abuses of every valuable privilege, he trusted the Freeholders of the County of Oxford would not be backward with their assurances of support to the Government of the Country, and their declaration of I attachment to the Constitution. " I speak to wise men," concluded h 7, 1 4 judge ye what I say !" The Rev. Mr. Thomas said, that he should have 'been satisfied, had the business of the Meeting rested on the speech of the Noble Lnrd who moved the Ad dress, or on that of the worthy Member for the City (Mr. Atkins Wright), who discharged so well the duties of a Magistrate, and those of a Representative; or on the speech of the learned Gentleman who had so eloquently described the • evils to which we were expose.i. The propriety and necessity of a Meeting like the present, for addressing the Prince in lan guage of attachment and loyalty, no man who was sensible of the blessings enjoyed under his Govern ment could deny. The Prince Regent, by his firm ness and wisdom, had carried us through a sea of difficulties, in which our national greatness, without his steady guidance, might have perished. He (Mr. Thomas) therefore entirely concurred in every word of the Address; but in order to make the proceed ings of the day complete, the Meeting ought not to stop with it. Along with an Address to the Prince Regent, declaratory of their attachment to the Throne and the Constitution, and of their determination to. support both, there should, in his opinion, be adopted a Declaration of the principles and views of the freeholders on those points of right and privilege, the abuse of which rendered the Address necessary. Neither, he thought, would be complete without the other. While the one would assure his Royal High. ness of their attachment and fidelity to his person, the other would declare against those errors and abuses of Constitutional rights which it was neces. nary to oppose, in order that we might support his Government, and preserve the rights themselves.— Such a document issuing from meetings like the pre sent, and signed, as it would be, by the body of the Freeholders, would serve to refute the assertion so often repeated, but as calumnious as it was untrue— that the Radicals alone spoke . the sentiments of the People. He knew that there were many Freeholders who wished to sign the Requisition, but had not the opportunity. It was right that they should have now an opportunity of giving their signatures. He had long lived among the Yeomen of the County of Oxford as a Minister of the Gospel, and from an in timate acquaintance with their habits and character, he could declare that a more loyal, a more patriotic, and a more respectable body of men, did not exist—a body of men that evinced greater integrity in their private life, or more zeal for the public welfare.— Should not such men have an opportunity of de claring to the world those sentiments of loyalty by which they were actuated ; and convincing the de luded, *or the deSigning disturbers of the country, that the'y would preserve their rights, by opposing the abuse of them ? If the propriety of such a de claration were admitted, •it would become a subject of consideration, what points it ought to embrace. These points might be divided into two classes— abuses, or dangerous principles to be renounced, and constitutional rights to be asserted. On the first head he would say, that he would renounce no right, that he would forfeit no privilege ; but there was all the difference in the world between the use and the abuse of a thing; and this declaratitin would renounce the one while it asserted the other. It was admitted that every thing might be abused, and how could we make an exception in favour of the. Constitution? Now, what were the constitutional rights that bad been abused ? He had seen enough of this Meeting not to be de terred from asserting his opinion, although it might not meet the views of all ; and he would say, first, that the right of petitioning for redress of grievances which was a constitutional right, and which certainly belonged to the people, had been grossly and wofully abused. Under the pretext of considering petitions, bodies of men had been brought together from dis tant places—nioving in military array—carrying standards at the head of several detachments—dis • playing their numbers to overawe opposition, and alarming the peaccibleityl well-disposed. Was this, he would ask, a proper us, qfiir great constitutional rights? (No, and great applause.} Let the free-. holders of Oxford imagine bodies of iren like th9se that other parki of 'the country h 34 witnessed, meoy iris thiee tliciusand froth ope kethqrisapct fro m anothei, and all directing their march on .the town, and then conceive into what a state it would be thrown: ,~ ~~ I f i `~l 1 i~.~±l I ! , 1 ; Y. I 1 " .j ', W