Star. — London, England, 1812-08-06 00:00:00

IMP.dL liitTBLLICZNat. ' FALMOUTH, AUGUST & A r rived the Swiftsure hired packet, rtatts, from t h e Mediterranean ; left Malta on th• lit ult. and Gibraltar on the 22d. His Majesty's ship ALcurs an d convoy for England, sailed from Malta on the ult i mo . On the day of the packet sailing from ibraltar, she spoke his Majesty's ship Cosaecns and G b r i g Mary, from Malta. PLYMOUTH, AUGUST 4. Arr i ve d the PkiITPS, 16 guns, from the Eastward, with four more new sloops for the service of the Breakwa ter; NIMROD cutter, from Rochefort; and t h e Neptune ( I ) tender from Dublin, with volunteers and i ropr essed men for the fleet ; also arrived the A .. .., can s hip Charles, EL4 'IT, master, from Ports l'arti;ou in ballast, detained by his Majesty's brig IN. TELLNE NT, His Majesty's ship ALFRED passed by i'S„ort yesterday from the Mediterranean ; Harriet, i l o r essoN , for Malta and Smyrna, called here to com pete her loading. PORTSMOUTH, AUGUST 5. Arrived his Majesty's ships CIRCE and WOOLVE.• O S from a cruize. His Majesty's ship SERAPIS is re lieved from quarantine. Sailed through the East cod the Harmony, and yesterday through the West end the Nimrod, they are both running ships, and b a re embarked troops on board at Cowes for Bar babes : another ship also with troops for Barbadoes. Tie CALEDONIA remained this morning, at seven o ' c lock, in Yarmouth Roads. His Majesty's ship rosafrius gives instructions for North America. DEAL, AUGUST 5. Arrived the ALFRED man of war,from the Mediter anean, and the PIEDMONTAISE frigate, from Ports mouth, and has sailed again tor Woolwich. Arrived the COUNTEES of ELGIN, cutter, after seeing her con voy into Portsmouth, and has made signal for the same destination. Sailed his Majesty's ship INDEFA- Ticans, and IDAs cutter, for off Flushing. YARMOUTH, AUGUST 5. Sailed the BRAVER sloop of war; HEARTY, gun brig; and the ACUTE, gun-brig, on a cruise; and will be followed in the course of the day by the remaining brigs, who are all going in pursuit of the American ships from the Baltic. The fleet in W Ingo Sound consists of upwards of 300 sail homeward bound, one third of which are laden with wheat. They have put to sea seven times, but have unfor tunately been obliged to return to port. 'Several ships are also taking in grain, and we may therefore expect avert' large supply from the Russian Ports. HELIGOLAND, JULY 30. Ile Britomart sloop of war and Thredur gan.brtg, with all the boats that could be spared from the squadron, have sailed for the Ems, w.th a view to attack a convoy of twenty vessels, laden with naval stores, which are blockaded by one of our gun-brigs In the rivers ffiSTMINSTER MEETING. A Meeting of the Inhabitants of Westminster took place yesterday in New Palace-yard, in pursuance of a Requisition to the High Bailiff, to take into consi deration the grievances of the people; the necessity of yeform in the representation of the people, and the Tibia" of a tax on capital. The Meeting was very thinly attended, owing to the unfavourable state of the weather, it having heavily rained during the whole morning; about one o'clock, however, the crowd in creased considerably. Shortly after one o'clock, the High Bailiff appear. ed on the temporary hustings erected for the occa sion before the King's Arms Tavern, attended by his various officers, as well as by Sir Faancts &H -UTT, Mr. MARTIN (of Galway), Mr. SINCLAIR, and other Members of Parliament, and by Major CART-. WRIGHT, Colonel BOSVILL, Mr. BROOKS, &C. Mr. Moms (the High Bailiff) have read the Re quisition to convene the Meeting. Major CARTWRIGHT stepped forward.—He stated to the Meeting, that it had been intended to convene it previously to the prorogation of Parliament ; but it was fortunate that such intention had not been rea lized, because facts had come to their knowledge which could not have been known at that time, and which consequently could not be presented to them for their consideration. They could now take into consideration the 66 hint" thrown out by the Chancel lor of the Exchequer, that Government might here after think it necessary to propose a Tax on Capital. They had the recess for this purpose, and it was to be hoped that such opportunity would be seized by every part of the United Kingdom.— But the Hint demonstrated the necessity of a Reform in the Re• presentation of the People. That cause, the cause of Retorm, daily assumed a more favourable aspect. Not only were the minds of the People becoming more alive to the necessity of that Reform ; but they bad now the prospect of being effectively assisted by two Frost valuable institutions, the Hampden Club, and the Society of Union for obtaining a Reform— the former consisting principally of rank and wealth, and the latter of honest, but humble men. He had the firmest belief that much good might be expected to result to the People of England item these insti tutions; but he strongly hoped that the efforts of the People themselves would shew that those Societies were only acting in unison with the general senti ment. He trusted it would soon be made manifest by the people themselves, that the leading sentiment of the Hampden and Union Clubs was that which prevailed from one end of the kingdom to the other. (Hear )—ln addition to the leading object, Parlia mentary Reform, those Societies had elablished hind to be appropriated to the protection of the liber ty of the press.—(4mdaines.)—As to the proceeding to be proposed to the Meeting this day, it was his opinion, that they should never cease to petition the House of Commons fur redress of grievances, which would be obtained by a Reform in Parliament, till they succeeded ; and he was convinced that the time would come, if they persevered, when the House of Commons must listen to their petitions.—(Loud aft- Plas:a.)—He wished them to pursue their course of t eti tlming, because that was the course recognized the Constitution ; aye, he wished them to perse vere in petitioning that House, whose corruptions were the causes of all their calamities. —(Hear.) It Was true there were two modes which they might adopt; the one, to petition till they obtain redress— the other, to proceed by open force. But as a lover ?f the constitution, and above all as a lover of peace, c r'e hoped they never wou ld h ave occas i on to resort to tjrCe ri °r did be think then ever sould be any such oceastott, it the people did their duty ; for he wAs 'vinced that petitions - - there con iat gain _ must i for them their ob ject. whenever . _ should be necessary union of sen- timent amongst the people themselves (app/asue.) Be cause they had hitherto endeavoured in vain to obtain the desired reform they most not be disheartened. Let them call to mind, that it took more than half a cen• wry to bring about the glorious Revolution."— Let them call to mind the unvarying testimony of all history, that it always took a long time to redress the grievances of the People, and to restore the si tuation and the liberties of a country. The Refor mers had not yet been occupied in the good work half a century. They had pursued it for about 40 years, and from the spirit which he perceived to be rising in every part of the country, he thought they had not much longer to pursue it, before success would crown their efforts.—( Continued Applenues.)— As might naturally be expected from such a state of things, their difficulty increased daily ; for they now had to behold, in perspective—a tax on capital. Not content with levying a tax of 171 per cent. on all property ; not content with imposing taxes on house hold establishment, and on every article of consump tion, the Chancellor of the Exchequer had hinted that it would be necessary to tax capital itself; such was the state of our treasury--( , 4 We hope not I" exclaimed some voices in the crowd.) Now what was this tax on capital ? Why it meant nothing less than taking from every man a part of his estate an nually ; and if that were done for many years, the people would have no property left. —( A Laugh.)— But, said some of our wise financiers, such could not be the case ; ruin could not be the result, for property was not annihilated, it only changed hands!)-- (Laughter.)—}le. however, would tell them what would be the tact of such a tax—it Would only be to transfer every man's es•ate into the hands of the Government--to take all property from its right owners, and to place it in the Exchequer.—(Dear, hear, and applause' .) —But our Ministers had only rea lized the pans of SirJatnes Stuart, as boldly promul- gated by that Honourable baronet, in a work pub lished by him about 45 years ago. That plan was, in substance—to make the people slaves—to deny them the use of gold and silvet--(Laughter.) —to proscribe such a currency, and to compel every man to take up the profession of a soldier—to prohibit fo reign commerce--to dash to pieces every remain of a grand system of merchandize ! Such was the system which Sir James Stuart had, 45 years ago, con tended was best calculated to enable a country to cope with military,. modern Europe—and the Mini sters of Eti b land seem to have adopted the plan ! (Hear, hear.)—Had it, however, been said, 45 . years ago, that such would be the caie, he would hare been deemed a madman who would have pronounced it. —(".Andhe's mad who says such it the case! exclaimed a voice from the crowd.) —There was an.ither curious circumstance attendant upon all these events: they whp had introduced this new plan of Government— who had brought about all those changes, had never ceased to bellow through the country that the refor mers, were " innovators."—(4 Laugh.)--There was another melancholy feature of the present times, which he could not but observe with deep regret : those who professed themselves of the school of Pitt had suc ceeded in raising an alarm throughout the country, as had been done twenty years ago, and, as was the case at that period, men were sent to and continued in prison on mere suspicion. There were now in Lan -1 caster gaol 37 persons, whose crime was, .that they had met together at an inn, for the purpose of conai. derink of a petition to Parliament.— ( Hear.)—Busy spirits were now abroad, and such was a specimen of their infernal feats ! As to the machine breaking, it was a very foolish thing ; but it resulted from wild despair. Those foolish outrages, however, had given the signal to the evil-disposed to assemble together ; but others saw plainly the origin of that despair, and of the evils that had resulted from it—it was to be at tributed solely to the want of a Reform in Parliament. (Afildauser.)—He should propose seven Resolutions, which he hoped, spoke such intelligible language as to supersede the necessity of comment from him; and he should also propose for their adoption, a Peti tion to the House of Commons. The principal ob. ject of his Petition would be, to do away the practice resorted to by the House of Commons, of moving— " the previous question," whenever these grievances of the people came before them. It, however, was something that the House had not ventured to deny the claims—the previous question-motion had been the only rebuttal. They, in effect, by such conduct, said to the people, as Felix had done to Paul—" Go thy way this time, end return at a more convenient season!" —But the people must persevere—they must not suf fer themselves to be diverted from their object; and the House would at least relinquish what they could no longer hold, if there was an union of sentiment in the people, it had been so with King John. When he saw that numbers and power were against him, he very quietly signed Magna Chart*. So it would be with the cause of Reform. When there was a unity of sentiment—when the voice of the people was- O not loud but deep"—when they made the House feel and understand, then would it grant their claim. —(.4fildauses ).—ln the Petition which he should pro pose to them, he asked for nothing as a favour—he stated their rights, and the restitution of them was claimed. He made the people do now as they had done at the Revolution, ss claim, demand, and insist on the undoubted rights of the nation."—Having commented on the assumed " elective and legisla tive" powers of the Commons as contrary to their li berties, he concluded with expressing his firm convic tMn that nothing was wanting to crown their cause With success but union of sentiment.—(Loud applau ses.)—He then proposed the following Resolutions, as embodying the sentiments of that Meeting : im. That the Chancellor of the Exchequer.baiing taught us to expect that, In addition to all the grievous Taxes on Income, an uarly Tax on Capital, it la expedient to distinguish between these modes of Tara' ion. Y. That to tax income, is to take a proportion of the rents or profits of an Estate; to Tax Capital is to take away part of the Estate itself. 9d. That a Tax on Capital, annually repeated, must shortly talse away the whole of the Estate. 4th. "1 . bat between the effect of Taxing Capital and the effect of confiscation, this Meeting is not able to distinguish. sth. That although the whole of Mee 's Estates may be taken away by arbitrary Taxation, yet, as neither Land, nor its ptu duce, nor other personal property, is thereby annihilated, so the real effect of the system is, to transfer all property, real and per sonal, from the right owners to those who, possessing a power of arbitrary Taxation, can take away that property as their pleasure. tith, That the Oligarchy, which, by usurping a great majority of the seats is the House of Commons, are become mauve IA #ll property, and can take it OM at t4idr *mere—are by the I Ise dirinftteei of opinion. and &kilning before the same nu any, bedoine Masters of the Crean andits Esc/seiner . people of England the great questlon of Parliamen. 7th, That this Meeting knows but of one crime meriting pu- nary Reform He thought that this manliness wee nishme.,t by a confiscation of their estite, of which the people of England have bete guilty, namely, the crime of having too long highly commendable in a Gentlenian coming from submitted to taxation without Representation ; a crime of which , the sister country, which was so interesting to try in s they must speedily repent, or inevitably sink into a slavery the 1 variety of respects : and he was ettreinely glad that most abject and the most hopeless . he had received so patient an hearing. He must say, ' eth, That as the House of Commons exercises the authority el a Coon of Judicature, with exclusive jurisdiction over what- . he felt the contrast to be rather unfavourable to the ever relates to the Elective and Legislative rights of the people, Gentlemen of England, who appeared to be so lost so as no redress of any injury touching the same can be elsewhere , to the due sense of the difficulties and dangers of the obtained, the Meeting, on behalf of themselves and the Nation times they lived in, that none of them had thought at large, will present to that House apetiiion of Right, claiming ; proper to attend the present meeting, for the purpose Representation co-extensive with Taxation in Annual Puha ments, according to the Constitution ; sad demanding that— of benefiting their countrymen by their opinions and I N itistiCe be neither denied nor delayed," according to Mains ' advice. The Gentlemen of this country appeared to , Char a. him entirely to abandon the station which naturally ' . These Resolutions being pot by the High Bailiff, belonged to them in society I and to have sunk into Mr. HARRIS declared, that the Resolutions which i total indifference as to the liberty of their country. had been now read had his full concu rr ence. He i They seemed to have sunk into such a state of apathy, / was satisfied that they were founded in truth, and that as to incur suspicion of their being the willing and it was the incumbent duty of the Meeting not to omit ready tools of corruption. They seemed so dead to this opportunity of expressing their opinion on a sub- i public feeling, that they wete ready to bear quietly ject in which the country was so materially interested.' that their estates should be confiscated under their He trusted that they might still have an opportunity i noses. Their great fear appeared, to be that the peo. of expressing the sentiments of the Inhabitants of pie would assume their proper dignity, and recover Westminster in a fuller meenting ; and he was also 1 those rights, which in ancient times the Gentlemen hopeful, that the expression of similar feelings would , of England were ever the foremost to assert ; and become universal throughout the country. lie, there- for which, if necessary, they were formerly pre. fore, was happy in seconding the Resolutions. I pved to shed their blood. He could not agree with The question was then put, and the Resolutions the Gentleman who spoke last, that Reform would were carried unanimously. I produce no change in public men. If public men did Major CARTWIGIIT then submitted ,his petition to not grow more honest, they would at least feel that the Meeting, which was of considerable length ; but, it was more dangerous to be knaves (A/olitare.) The as may be supposed, it only amplified the sentiments Gentlema?t had said that men of fortune would be of the above Resolutions by arguments and illustre- the most likely to be returned. That was very true p tions, contending, that " a radical Reform only can and if there was nothing to be made by the trade of relieve the country from the grievances and burdens Parliament, the Representatives would be more likely under which it at present labours. Give the people to be men of some fortune. He denied that the per. a radical Reform, and (said the petition in conclu- sons now chosen were men of fortune: they came into lion) by such a proceeding the English Constitution that House to get hold of the property of the country s would once more rise from its own ashes, with re. and when they got it, they then triumphantly invule newed life and improved energy, for the benefit, the ed the public with that fortune which they had scr tranquillity, the happiness, and the glory of our coup- acquired. If Members were returned by annual elec. . try to the end of time." 1 tions, they would be obliged to keep short accounts Mr. GEORGE HARRIS represented the present pe- with their constituents ; which, according to the old ', clod to be one most inauspicious for the final accom- proverb, was the way to make e long friends." They plishment of their views of Reformation. The Royal would sot have time then to cultivate that foul and Personage who at present represented the Monarch of corrupt connection with the Treasury Beoch which these kingdoms,had made a veryfruitlessendzavour to they now do. He would speak of the Treasury 1 form a strong and e ffi cient administration, conforma- Bench, and not of Ministers—for the latter were ble to the vote of the House of Commons. These merely as straw floating on the stream ; although, persons stood aloof, nor would they condescend to whoever happened to be placed upon the Treasury lend their abilities to assist their country in its danger, Bench, had the same influence as if sitting on the unless they were placed at the head of the Govern- tripod, and every word which fell from their mouths I ment. In consequence of that refusal, the people had was like the decision of an oracle, which absolutely beheld those very persons return again to the ma- governed the minds and the voteeof majorities at nagement of public affairs, on whom the House of all times, as that House is now constituted. The Commons had passed a vote of censure, which de- House of Commons was usually called the Guardian dared their inability to conduct any longer the Go- of the Public Purse—he thought it might more truly vernment. Now it appeared the people had got two be called. the Cut-purse of the Realm. He thought formidable enemies to make head against ; one was it would be much better to have - no guardian at all their old and dire enemy the Oligarchy at home, for the public purse, than such a guardian as that the other their bitter but foreign enemy Bonaparte. body was ; as he thought it would be much better By a proper and immediate and Constitutional Par- to have nobody at all to take care of his purse, than liamentary Reform , we would render the warlike pre- a person who would hold it open to any thief who parations of our foreign foes vain, but if we failed in ', chose to put his hand in it—(Afiedasise.) The dan. accomplishing that salutary measure, we must con- gets of the country were allowed, on all hands, to ' template submission, sooner or later, to a foreige and be great ; but he was not one of those who only ape victorious foe. He concluded by seconding the pe- prehended danger from the foreign foe, but thought, tition. i on the contrary, that there was much more immi. Mr. MARTIN, Member of Parliament for Galway, ' sent danger from our domestic enemies. When ha • then came forward, and stated, that he was a Gen- f 4 strongly for his country, he did not understand s aleman pertaining to the Sister Kingdom, and was by the word country, either houses, or streets, or anxious to inform the people of his opinions upon the lands, or even the people themselves, unless Liberty present subject. (Hear him, Hear him !) He ap- , and the Constitution united them into a form of so. proved of many of the sentiments which the petition ciety, which deserved the name of country. For ex. contained, but he confessed that he could hardly ample, if the population of a State were ever to nu. augur favourably of the reception of a petition 1 merous, hut obliged to crawl upon the surface of the couched in such terms as the present one. ( How, how?) ' earth, like worms that must not even turn when they He approved of the wholesome censure bestowed ; are trodden upon without meeting severe remelted. upon those different Parliamentary parties who had I slop, such a population would not form a country. refused to rally around the banners of their country. 1 When it was said that the country would be destroyed displayed at a moment of extreme peril. (Hear, hear! if conquered by the French, nobody meant to say Bravo, bravo !) He was happy to find, at an opi- that the land would disappear, or the houses. Lon• nioa which he had always cherished was become ma- don might still be as great a city as it is now ; and - nifestly true. He believed that no place on the earth there might be still country gentlemen occupied, au - contained so much good sense as the British empire, they now are, in buying and selling sheep, and vying and particularly the metropolis. He had felt an in- with each other in their agricultural improvements. stance of it now, for they had borne his disapproval All this might be the case, even if Napoleon were is of some of their measures with patience. The peti-1 the square in which he had the honour of addressing . tion had his high approbation for reprobating the con- i them ; and, therefore, those who had talked of the duct of men, who began to arrange their private i i destruction of the country, could only mean the die' p'iques when they should have been wielding their i :traction of that frame of society which is the pees. • . eloquence in support of their country. It happened in 1 liar pride and boast of Englishmen. If the ancient one of the Grecian States, that a man lifted up his i liberties of the country were entirely taken away, and armed hand to smite a man, in one of the popular as-' the new tax on capital, in addition to the other tames, semblies, who had dis a greed"with him in opinion.— I should amount to a confiscation of every man's land e Hear me, (said the other, who viewed his uplifted ; and property, then would the people of England be in hand with indifference) let us first fight and conquer a more unfortunate situation than the people of any the public enemy, and then we will have leisure to ; other country ever were. When Jos: ph wrote to the think of our individual wrongs." (Loud applause.) In ! people of Egypt, that Pharaoh had bought them, and his opinion, Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning were , all their lands, it was however added, that for their highly blameable in acting as they had done. Con- lands and their liberty, Pharaoh would givethcm bread coning the annual Parliaments recommended in the (a la k) : whereas the people of England were rob. Petition, he was at a loss to discover what good such 1 bed of their liberty, at the same time that it bread an alteration would serve. From the nature of th e I was taken out of their mouths (eleedesite. lie could Parliamentary duties, men a ffl uent in circumstances assure them, that every exertion whit hr e could . could alone be returned.—( Honed men !) —Well ! I , make, either there or in any other place, should al. applaud the sentiment ; but the unceasing recurrence : ways be made against such a system. As it had of Parliamentary labour required something more been mentioned, that no member could be found to than honesty to make those labours benehcial.— I second the Address which he felt it his duty to pro. (We'll pay him, we'll 12g him !) Excellent ! No man i pose lately to the House of Common', he thought it . eel( • - •sPoole them that his worth- could address the pe - ople of England without becom ing wiser from the experiment. He admired to hear I the public voice exclaiming it would pay its Repre sentatives—such sentiments did honour to the public I 'mind. That, to be sure, was one way of being inde rndent.; but the expences would come heavy.—(No, No! ten times at much !)—He wished well to the cause of Reform ; but ,he thought the most auspicious way to attain it was to petition Parliament to examine the State of the Representation of the People, and pro. ceed accordingly.—(No, no, no ! o . ff, off, off!) Hs would not give a negative to the Petition. Sir FRANCIS BURDETT then came forward. He began by saying, that after the able speech they had 'heard from his frietwil Major Cartwright, the venera ble and constant patron and supporter of every at tempt to procure Reform, he should not, in the pre sent unfavourable circumstances of the weather (it vat an incestant rain), and when his sentiments were so perfectly known, have thi.ught it necessary to come forward at all, if it had not been for the obser vations which had fallen from the Gentleman who last addressed them. He must say, that he felt obliged to him for coming forward in the manly way .that he had done, and latvoly and candidly stating necessary to inform sy colleague (Lord Cochrane) would certainly have attended to second it, if in had not at that time been confined to his bed by severe sickness. As to the representatiots of the country, it had been stated, and offered to be . proved in the House, that 154 individuals, Peers and Commoners, returned an absolute majority of the Representatives of England. It was those • , individuals whom he had called sn oligarchy; and it was against this system, equally degrading to the Throne and ruinous to the People, that he *as always contending. He could hardly conceive any slavery Worse than this. Corrupt Judges and cor rupt Courts of Justice were great evils, but were by no means to be compared as an evil to a corrupt Le gislature, that bad the power to shield all manner of corruption. After a variety of other observations he concluded by expressing a firm hope, that the Peti• tions of the people for a Parliamentary reform wou'd be signed by so decided a majority of the nation, . • that their -* (Loud On tion and 17 agreed .~ • • .. 1 • heir object must be ultimately accomplished—. laNdatoe.) the Motion of Major Ceara's-moor, the Peti. .nd the remaining Resolutions Were uoanimous+ reed to—The hilet4 &btu bruk: up. w . •.