Star. — London, England, 1820-12-18 00:00:00

from a state of • bondage and detrading'servility to' clerical dominion—(Shouts of applause).—They had, indeed, upon a late occasion, raised such a spirit of liberty and independence in the North, as would, at no distant day. he trusted, shake to the very founda tion the gross and unwieldy edifice of Ministerial pcwer—Pipplause).—lf there were a man who, in times like the present, would shrink from his public duty into the privacy of domestic retirement, he was not one of that description; he had devoted himself heart and soul to their sevvice; and he should always be found among the foremost to express his send ;nem whenever the existence of liberty, the rinciples of justice, and the purity of the Constitution were •. ! ndangered—(Applesse).—Mr. Lambton concludes !:is speech by proposing the Resolutions and Address. Mr. BAaasrr presented himself to the attention st . the Meeting to second the Resolutions and Address. ;.; .t Freeholder of this County, and as an English. i n, Le was anxious to record his opinion of the vir -. :e , , i . his Monarch, and enter his protest against the. •.: j Act of his Majesty's Advisers. If the King were answerable for the measures which had been recently pursued by his Ministers, he knew not how he could speak of him, without compromising that loyalty and that respect to which the Monarch was constima ticnally entitled. The happiness of the King . and the People were so blended, that it must ever be the wish of his Majesty, as well as his duty, to regu late his conduct agreeably to the wishes of his Pec.- pie. Put a distinction between the King and his Mi nisters was proper. Whilst he must refrain from speaking disrespectfully of the fornier, he could not but express his unmingled. disgust .and unqualified disapprobation of the. latter—conduct marked by everything mean in. principle and monstrous in in jib:ice—without any plea to urge in their behalf but that of expediency, or any motive except their vile and mercenary attachment to their :places, to which they he,itated not sacrificing all law, all jus tice, and even humanity. If conduct like that of the Ministers were to go unpunished, the People would make themselves parties to their guilt. No law, no justice, would prevail, and the thief would not be worthy of the halter—(Laugh(er).—Let the Meeting look to the long period during which these men had pessissed power, and point out to him (Mr. Barrett) one solitary act of theirs which conferred dignity upon the Throne, or alleviated the distresses of the People. Look back to the Manchester massacre, and what was no slight feature of that transaction, look to the letter of thanks conveyed to the Magistrates, 1::ose protectors of the peace, for their specialbreach of it. Look to the passing of the five Acts, by which the liberties of the People were curtailed, and their moue is gAgged to prevent the expression of their feelings. Let them look to the present state of the conistry—of its National Debt, which hung like a millstone on their necks. Look to the lavish expen- diture of the public money, as tliough it were ob tained from an inexhaustible source. Look at die immense standing army, which bespoke of war, 'not of peace, in this country. Look at the distresses of the People, at the accumulation of paupers, and the increase of poor-rates. Look at the distresses in the Convneicial, Agri'cultural, and Manufacturing Dis tricts, and what was the cause of the failures in all these? Look at the Bill of Pains and Penalties.— Look at the origin of it, and at the conduct of those who had deviated from all law and justice, by con victing the Queen before she was accused, and per secuting her after acquittal. He trusted the King was no f arty to these proceedings. So long as the )liaisters kept their places, they cared not what befel the country. He trusted that the House of Corn nion,, if they were indeed the Representatives of the People, and not the Representatives of themselves would upon this occasion prove to the country that they had the power, as well as the inclination, to act and think like men impelled by a sense Qf justice, and actuated by the general feeling, that they would adopt measures to restore to the Queen all the rights tind privileges of which she had been wantonly de prived, and to prevent the recurrence of such pro ceedings, which were not only, as they themselves had described them, " derogatory to the dignity of v.e Crown, and injurious to the best interests of the Country," but subversive of all law and justice, and destructive both to the Throne and the Empire. Mr. LIDDELL rose to address the Meeting. He totally differed from the Address to his Majesty, as •;:t•ll as the advice given him of restoring to the . Queen all the rights and dignities belonging to her sta:iun—(Groans and hisses)—for, laying aside the c'; ages as well as all the evidence brought in sup psi of them, still he considered, after the celebrated letter v:hich she had addressed to his Majesty, that had forfeited her claim to those rights—( Hisses). i ire List resource of a notorious criminal, was to re vle the Court by which he was to be tried.—(Mr. Lizid'!'s voice was here completely drcrumed by cries " !")-41e had come prepared to meet with opposition ; but if he, because he differed in opi nion from the generality of the Meeting, was to be prevented from expressing his sentiments, then there would be an end to discussion, and it could not be I.:id that public opinion had been expressed at that 'Meeting—(Hear, hear).—He would contend that ,er Majesty, in the letter alluded to had reviled the : - ghest Court of Judicature in the kingdom, and ap ,-73uchccl very nearly to high treason, in a great many respects—(Groans and hisses).—He was willing to incur the risk of displeasing them on the present occasion, by the hope of gaining their esteem for at lou=t rronouncin4 his opinions sincerely—(Hear, —(.4 voice an the gallery cried out, " You did' '!o! I.t.'d up your hand against the Resolutions !") Lisideil, with some warmth, said, " I did, Sir.", :he conduct of Ministers with regard to the Queen oe to,: to be this :—lf they had heard reports inju ?us to the character and dignity of her Majesty, were justifiable in instituting inquiry, but they : , tylit to have been well informed as to the nature of the evidence, having had an awful warning in the farmer accusations, in which her Majesty had justi fied herself—(Hear, hear). —Ministers should have btought forward witnesses in support of the charges, , •fitiii!.:ipeAcliable character, and respectable in their station, if they could find them, such as could have stood the test of that scrutiny to which the witnesses in such ea:.es arc likely to be exposed—(linear, hear). Mot.t tc,io: Innately fur the Ministry, and must for:ti ll:110y for h.r Maje,ty, the characters of the witnesses \yule not unimpeachable, and could not stand the test of severe scrutiny. Many measures, he thought, might have had a better chaace of success, and been adopted with more confidence . by Minister's I but, as it was, he did not see how the business could have been managed much worse—(Loud cheers).—Tn say ing this, he did not admit that the innocence of the' Queen had been established —(lfisses).—The greatest charges, of the indelicacies against her character, had not been disproved— (Cries of " No, no ! a lie!"). — They had heard a violent harangde by the seconder of the Resolutions, that the thief was not worthy of his halter. If he were not worthy of his 11 alter, he was not a thief—(Laughter). Having briefly told them his sentiments, which he should never neglect to do as long as he stood in the character of a private Gentleman, he would conclude by stating, that he should always attend County Meetings, and when he conceived the measures of Ministers to be adopted for the good of the country, he would support them ; but when the contrary, he would censure them, be cause he thought by such means the country would be most benefitted. Earl GREY rose to address the Meeting, and was received with several distinct rounds of applause. When it had subsided, he assured the Meeting that the manner in which he had been received on pre senting himself to their notice that day, really over powered him. Ile had wished to make a few oh- servations—many were not necessary, because the Resolutions and Address so fully and distinctly ex pressed all that was required, that even had they not been so ably and powerfully- supported by his two Honourable Friends, it would be unnecessary and _ . perhaps presumptuous in him to trespass on their at tention for more than a few moments. But he could not help exptissing the high satisfaction which he had that day experienced ; and next, a very few 're marks, and few they should be upon the occasion, and the circumstances connected with it, which had brought them together. In the Resolutions which had been read, and almost unanimously adopted (with the single exception, he believed, of his Friend Mr. Liddell) the Bill of Pains and Penalties, which had been so long under discussion in the House of Lords, had been properly described as impolitic, un necessary, and unjust—(Bravo and loud applause). Every word of that description of the Bill of Pains and Penalties in the case of the Queen, and as a ge neral description of Bills of Pains - and Penalties, he subscribed to ; but that Bills of Pains and Penalties have been 'known in the best and purest periods of the history of our Constitution was a position which he was not prepared to deny—(Hear). All he con tended for, as a lover of liberty and sincerely at tached to the Constitution, was, that so extraordi nary an extension of power could never be justified except in cases when considerations for the public safety imperiously required that such proceedings should be adopted, and when to other measures would do—( Applause). Why, then, he asked, was that proceeding resorted to in the question of her Majesty ? Was there such a necessity existing when 'the Bill of Pains and Penalties against the Queen was introduced into the House of Lords ? His Friend (Mr. Liddell) had told them that the Ministers were justified in their conduct, because, forsooth, rumours had been circulated against the Queen's reputation.— There were two things to be considered with regard to that subject ; the first was the truth of the rumours. It was the duty of Ministers to have ascertained the truth of those reports in the first instance, to have satisfied themselves that they could prove them to be true, and not to have neglected any opportunity in their power of procuring unimpeachable evidence, instead of relying upon witnesses who were consi dered by Mr. Liddell himself as unworthy of credit; whereas, had justice been their object, they would have been first certain of the truth of that testimony upon which they were about to advance such grave and important charges. He charged Ministers, therefore, with a-disregard of the principles of jus tice and of the honour of the Crown. But there was this also to be considered ; was there any public ne cessity requiring .that such a measure should be brought forward ? - Could it be asserted that there was any •danger to the succession ? Could it be said That the conduct of the Queen on the Lake of Como affected the morals or the character of this country in a degree which could render such pro ceedings against her necessary? Least of all could this be alleged by those who offered her -E50,000 a-year out of the public purse, to enable her to give full scope to those vicious propensities with which they had since charged her— ( Immen'se applause ).—I Knowing all these circumstances, they yet offered her an additional inducement—namely, to use their influence in both Houses of Parliament (and it was well known that that influence was seldom exerted in vain) to procure congratulatory Addresses to be presented to her from those Houses as a sort of peace offering, or testimonial of character, if she would only go into a state of banishment—(Applause).--- Could any unprejudiced man then say that the pro ceedings against her were necessary ? His friend, Mr. Liddell, had said, that althOugh the witnesses against the Queen had failed to prove her guilt, yet he still did not think her innocent. The only direct proofs that had been produced on behalf of the pro secution, rested on the testimony of discarded ser vants ; and it was curious, as Mr. Lambton had re marked, that after they had quitted her service, not a single charge, not even a whisper, was beard against her conduct. The character of those witnesses, Inde pendently of the inconsistency and 'prevarication in their evidence, was such as to render them unworthy of credit—(Applause).—So positively had the evi dence in favour of the Bill been overthrown, that 'even its supporters acknowledged it ought not to pass upon the unsupported allegations of those wit nesses, whose testimony, it was admitted, could not be relied on. Then, what was resorted to next ? They were told, that though much of the evidence against her Majesty had been disproved, and though the witnesses were not to be credited, there was still so much of the evidence uncontradicted, and which might have been contradicted, as to justify a pre sumption of guilt. And was this the principle of British law? Were they to be told that the accuser should not be bound to prove his charges, but that the accused, it unable to rebut every particular that perjured witnesses might swear against her, this in-' ability on the part of the accused should be ground for a presumption of guilt ?—( Hear, hear, hear l ). No principle could be more repugnant to law and justice, and to all good practice, than this,. which was never before attempted to be acted upon (Ap plause). But this was not all. Though direct proof faileA suspicion remained. The, were told, that al though the chiles a g*inst her Majesty, iF taken singly, did not lead to conclusion of her guilt, yet when those individual charges were taken collec tively, it was urged that such a conclusion must be admitted; a principle well worthy of those who had attempted to oiierthrow the liberties of the country by the doctrine of constructive treason, and w:lo would now introduce a new law in order to dethrone a Queen (Applause). His Lordship, therefore, taking this view of the question, arrived at a very dif ferent conclusion from that which Mr. Liddell seemed to have approved ; and as his Lordship said in the. House of Lords, upon his honour as a Peer, had it been a judicial inquiry, he would equally have pro- nounced, Not Guilty. If justice, therefore, required this decision, was it fair, was it right, was it prudent, was it consistent with the honour of the Crown, or calculated to add to its stability, to endeavour to af fix upon her a stigma which the 13111 of Pains and Penalties had failed to accomplish ? nut Mr. Lid dell had stated a new ground upon which lie had withheld his sanction from the applications of that Meeting to the Throne and Parliament. He alluded to the letter addies , ed by the Queen, sonic time since, to his Majesty. His Lordship had before expressed his opinion respecting that letter. He certainly dis approved of it in the highest degree; and he consi dered. her Majesty's interests 111 served by those who advised her to that publication. But he thought, at the same time, that much allowance should be made for that act, on account of the singular situation in which her Majesty was placed. But if she had erred in writing and publishing that letter, he thought it was a little too- much to say, that on this account alone her Majesty should be deprived of those ap pendakes to which she was entitled as Queen.— Thus much he had said, in order to shew that the reasons assigned by Mr. Liddell ought not to prevent them from acting in the manner they had intended. His Lordship/hen observed, that the House of Lords had been induced to carry the Bill through a third reading, but the majority they had obtained sVas only a nominal one, and was composed, firstly, of the Queen's accusers; secondly, of their numerous con nections and dependents ; and, thirdly, of some per sons who had not heard a syllable of the evidence for the defence—(Hear). Yet the majority was at last' so much reduced, that it exceeded only by one the number of the Cabinet Ministers who voted. Under. these circumstances, with the strength of public opi nion against the measure, it was impossible it could . be carried. Accordingly, after:the third reading, they had seen the very Minister who had brought forward the charges, the framer of the accusation, a Member of the Secret Committee, come forward in his four-fold capacity of accuser, prosecutor, judge, and juror ;—and he did not sink into the earth with shame at his wicked attempt to degrade the Queen ; they had seen that very man propose to terminate the proceedings on the Bill which he had introduced. Here it might have been hoped that an end would have been put to all proceedings against her Majesty; but the measure of injustice was not yet full. When, as the Resolutions stated, it was expected that the agitation in which the country had been so long in volved would be suffered to subside, the Parliamect —the first Parliament of a new Reign, a Parliament which, as it had been obsei-ved by Mr. Lambton, had entitled itself, by its liberal grants, to the appro bation of the Monarch—grants dictated rather by a desire to support the splendour of the Crown, than by a due consideration of the hardships under which the country was suffering—this Parliament, at a moment too when alarm and apprehension prevailed both in respect to our internal and our external situa tion, and when something ought to have been done to tranquillize those feelings—this Parliament *as prorogued without one expression of grace or favour, and in a manner which had no precedent in the his tory of this country, except in the unhappy time in -which an unfortunate Stuart, amidst the civil com motions he had raised, suffered under a sentence legally but not morally unjust—(Loud applause.)— This being the case, were not the People called upon to-take some steps with a view to repress the fears and compose the agitation of the public mind? He knew not whether any further proceedings were meditated against her Majesty—(Hear, hear, hear). But when he adverted to the language used, and the calumnies and insults directed towards her in those prints which were devoted and subservient to the Ministry, he could not but admit that there was strong ground for .suspicion and apprehension— ( Hear ).—The act of striking her Majesty's name out of the Liturgy had not yet been atoned ; and, instead of a provision being made for her by Par liament suitable to her rank and dignity, and which Parliament would no doubt have cheerfully granted, she had only an uncertain dependence on Ministers, who doled out to her that which it was their duty to have applied to Parliament to bestow. Contrary to the opinion of Mr. Liddell, his Lordship thought that this was a case, above all others, that called upoa the People of England to approach the throne in language that could not be misunderstood, pray ing, as a means of calming the public agitation, that the Queen's name might be restored to the Liturgy, and that an establishment might be provided for her, suitable to her rank and station—( Loud applause.)— Elis Lordship then said, he would briefly allude to I topics of a more general nature ; he thought he could do so without infringing that reconimendatien SQ properly given by the High Sheriff, to confine the. attention of the Meeting to the object for which k bad been convened; lie could not indeed help very shortly adverting to some topics which had been so ably and emphatically treated by Mr. Lambton. It was impossible to view without feelings of great alarm and sorrow, the internal state of the country, particularly the distress of the manufacturing and commercial classes. Our external situation. we's . equal.y fearful. The desire of liberty, which had been encouraged by the Sovereigns of Europe when they wished to combat and put down their common enemy, Napoleon, was now counteracted by a base conspiracy under the false,hypocritical, and blasphe mous title of the Holy Alliance—(Loud cheering).— Wiym he looked back at these circumstances, and re-. garded them in conjunction with the past -and with probably yet contemplatedpeoceedings against the Queen, H ea VEN seethedbf speak in signs and omens and he could. not better describe the times than by cinoLing a passage from an inspired writer.: " And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars i and upon the earth distress of nations, with per plexity ; the sea and the waves roaring —men's hearts failing . . . . . • I . than for rrar, and to !kiting aftei atOio &iris iikticlt ale eek on eartb." • —This was the true state of the an xiety felt by thi country; sorrow :Intl shame for the past, fear sing apprehension for the time to come. Under such cif. cumstances, his only hope and their best resource ways to be found in the principle% cf the Constitution and in the spirit of the People. That hope was confirmed by the conduct that day of the Assembly he was ad dressing. Let all England follow the example they were setting ; let them approach the Throne like men " who knew their rights, and kticwing, dare mains tain," against the threats of power and the blandish meat kof corruption, sober but entlmsi,tstic, firm but prudent, moderate but resolute and fearless, and the country might yet be saved.—llis Lordship, on sits ting down, was greeted with three cheers. On the motion of Mr. Lastaros, seconded by Mr. BA RR ETT, it was resolved, that the Address to the king be signed by the High Sheriff. Dr. FENWICK rose amid considerable theering,. and in a speech of some length, highly complimen tary to Earl Go EY, proposed the Thanks of the Meet:: ing to his Lordship, for his strenuous and able op position to t...e proceedings against the QUEEN. Earl GREY said, it was impossible for him not to. endeavour to express (however inadequate all expres- sion must be) his sense of the high honour conferred . upon him, not only by the terms of the Resolution itself, but also by the manner in which it was pro posed by Dr. Fenwick. It made him look back on himself, and• compare his conduct with the partial encomium of his Honourable Friend, and a sense of what he was checked those feelings to which such a mark of distinction naturally gave rise. Thus much, however, he hoped he might be allowed to say with out egotism or vanity, that in zeal for the liberties of his country, in a regard for the just prerogatives of the Crown, and in a desire to maintain the principles of the Constitution, he yielded to no man. His Lot dship had not attended a Meeting of the Free holders of the County of Durham since the year 1792. He had then the honour of standing by the side of the late Mr. Lambton, a man whom he esteemed and lamented for his virtues in private life, and for his talent, independence, and spirit, in public life; but it was a-source of consolation, that in his son and re-. presentative there was found the same disinterested ness, the same zeal for the service of the Public, and the same ability to support it—(App/Ruse).— The occasion to which his Lordship alluded, was the. publishing a Proclamation ostensibly against Seditious Societies, but which was, in fact, aimed at public li berty. Those who lived at that time, and who still survived, must be aware of the change which had. since takers place in the public mind. So unpopular then were measures favourable to freedom, owing to : the delusion which prevailed, that though an Address was carried within the Court, had another decision, been taken outside, it was doubtful whether the for. mer decision would not have been reversed. The . Noble Lord then expressed his satisfaction at the pro-, gress which had since been made in the character of the County for intellect and independence; and, after . a few more words, sat down amidst loud applause. Mr. LAMBTON proposed the Thanks of the Meeting to the Earl of Darlington, for his manly opposition to the Bill of Pains and Penalties against her Ma jesty, which was seconded by Mr. BAKER. A letter was read from the Noble Earl, apolo-. gising for his absence. Mr. PowLETT begged to return the Meeting, On behalf of his father, his most grateful thanks; being• • confident that when his father should be acquainted with the vote they had passed upon him, he would , duly appreciate the honour. He could inform them; that he was confident his Noble Relative went to the House of Lords ss ith an unbiassed mind to discharge , his duty ; and that, after hearing all the evidence against her Majesty, his full conviction was, that she was innocent. No man attended more closely, or gave his opinion more conscientiously than his fa ther had done. Mr. HOAR next addressed the Meeting in a forcible•• , speech, and concluded with moving the Thanks of the County, assembled, to their Representatives John G. Lambton, Esq. and the Hon. William Powlett, for their upright, independent, and consti tutional discharge of their public duties, both in and out cf Parliament (Great applause). Mr. LAMBTON and Mr. FOWLETT returned thanksi Earl GREY, in proposing a vote of thinks •to the High Sheriff, observed, that no one could have seen the conduct of the High Sheriff, that day, without observing the strict impartiality with which he had discharged his duty. Mr. LAMBTON having seconded this motion, which' was carried unanimously, the High Sheriff returned thanks, and the Meeting dissolved. • • • Monday a meeting was held at the Qtteen''s Head Inn, at Hawkhurst, when a loyal Address to his MA. JESTY was agreed to, and numerously signed by the inhabitants of that Parish. At Lewes two hundred' and upwards of the Free= holders have signed a Requisition to convene a Public. Meeting to address the KINO and QUEEN on her MAA. hesty's escape from the conspiracy formed to deprive er of her rights; and to pray his MAJESTT.to dis- Miss his Ministers from his Counsels. A Meeting of a number of Gentlemen of the United IP:wishes of St. Andrew, Holborn, and St. Chorge,the Ilfeartyr, took place on Saturday, at Gray's Inn Coffee ,house, for the purpose of considering the propriety, of adopting a dutiful, loyal, and a ffectionate Ad-. dies; to his MAJEsTr, The Rev. Mr. BERRSFORTI was called to the Chair. The Rev. Gentleman stated. the purpose of the Meeting in striking and hums, sive terms. He was followed by Mr. MOWER ) Mr* WALTON, Mr. MURRAY, the Rev. Dr. WILSON, and other Gentlemen, when the Address was unanimously* agreed to. ' "•r: • A loyal Address is in progress for "tipsiness through the County of Slants. It is said Hatt. - ati.t.. reasou it was not moved at a Connty"meetingi.intilit.- ••••-•.: regular way, was, because there are no Aiingiz*lab ~.*•..;•1!.5. in the County who can make a apecch ! • oratoricalQueeN's men would have made an Asebsedko , !: ment,'and no doubt carried it. One of 'tile fog C. . •which this loyal Address expressesi :is, Utak we siona-. be led through anarchy to a . !rotilitary usurpatissy and the tyranny of the sword r - This is. something new. As both parties seem to-anticipate a Military Government, we shall have a coalition, peelsaps ! - 7, i