Star. — London, England, 1829-09-18 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. No. 11. TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR. SI Remember always what a great man said in Parliament, that They who bought thei► seats in the House, must sell their votes there." Exastnsaa, Oct. 5, 1710. Si a—A typographical error which occurred in the in sertion of my first letter, ascribed to the EX AMINER of our own day— Whig and staunch Reformer as he is the important warning which I had selected from the Tory EXAMINER of a preceding century. I should scarcely have requested the correction of such an inad vertence, if it did not afford me an opportunity of depre cating the folly of such nominal distinctions as PARTY has laboured to perpetuate, without any due regard to PRINCIPLE. The paper from which that brief, but in structive, sentence was quoted, contains some passages which are worthy of the most liberal spirit, and which deserve to be impressed upon the mind of every Elector in the Kingdom ; since the most zealous Reformer of modern times could not promulgate more wholesome advice, on the choice of Representatives, than the fol lowing : " Your first care should be to chum Gentlemen of Estates in your neighbourhood, whom you know, rather than those who come from London once in three years, and whom you never see but at an election. The first of these have their lands at stake for their probity and honour : the latter, as actions rise or fall, have an estate or none. What a scandal 'tin to.have your Mem bers chosen upon the Exchange, and while you are ploughing and sowing what you think your own land, to be yourselves bought and sold in 'Change-alley ? Beware of Member-makers, and Undertakers for Par liament-men : People that have a farther aim than bringing a friend or relation into your Borough. They know very well how to get the money they bribe you with, repaid ; and at what rate to sell you and your Borough to their party, and are sure to make a good bargain of you.—With regard to their fellow-subjects, pray chum those who love their own countrymen better than any foreigner whatsoever ; and would neither be enslaved by the French, nor bubbled by any other nation. Who would be exact and industrious in the Public Ac counts; be frugal of the Nation's Money ; and let those that pay it, know how it is disposed of: who would con sider that Great Britain is an Island, and therefore be infinitely diligent in strengthening our Naval force : in a word, such as would be just to all men, religiously observe the laws of the land, and be always tender of the Lives, Liberties, and Fortunes of their Fellow suldects." Admonitions of a nature so just, and so salutary—no matter from what party they emanate—can never be too frequently, nor too earnestly repeated,— " line upon line, precept upon precept, until," in the words of BuuxE, " they come into the currency of a proverb." Essentially and intrinsically valuable, they lose none of their importance from the distance of time through which they have descended to us : nor of their validity, from the source from which they sprung. It is prudent at all times—wise under all circumstances—and justifiable in all warfare, to learn from the enemy ; and if the ancient doctrines of TOZYISM be found appli cable to the present condition of the people, shall they be rejected by modem WHIGS, merely through the un worthy prejudice of Tarty-spirit ? Assuredly not. _ _ Dr. JonwsoN, who was as free from any tendency to assert popular right, as the most pensioned courtier of the land, was forced, even in his advocacy of Ministerial power, to admit, that " many of the representatives of the people, can hardly be said to have been chosen at all. Some by inheriting a borough, inherit a seat ; and some sit by the favour of others—some are safe by their popularity, and some by their alliances." This avowal, which may be found in " The False Alarm," furnishes a strange contrast to his glowing and pompous descrip tion of the rights of electors in " The Patriot :"—" To select and depute those by whom laws are to be made, and taxes be granted, is a high dignity, and an important trust ; and it is the business of every elector to consider how this dignity may be well sustained, and this trust faithfully discharged. It ought to be deeply impressed on the minds of all who have voices in this national deli beration, that no man can deserve a seat in Parliament, who is not a PATRIOT No other man will protect our rights, no other man can merit our confidence. A Patriot is he whose public conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country ; who, as an agent in Par liament, has, for himself, neither hope nor fear, neither kindness nor resentment, but refers every thing to the common interest." Alas, for England, that the personi fication of such a character is never to be realized !—but that the " one single motive" must for ever resolve itself into the gratification of selfish ambition, or the promotion of sordid interests ;—that " the agent in Parliament" should become but the instrument of arbitrary power ; that he should " have for himself neither hope nor fear" only when he has secured the favour of a Minister by the sacrifice of his constituents ;—and that " the Patriot" who alone could " deserve a seat in Parliament"—who alone could protect our rights," or " merit our con fidence"—should dwindle into the mere creature of abso lute authority—worthy only of being ranked as a repre sentative with those who " by inheriting boroughs, in herit seats ;"—who " sit by the favour of others ;" and who, " are safe by their alliances !" Such are the evils of the present system of representation—which truth, however, proclaims to be a system of MISREPRE SENTATION. That the people have tolerated, nay en., couraged, the growth of such evils, I, for one, delibe- Jately declare. It was said by the great Lord By Runcii, that " Eng land could never be ruined but by a Parliament"—an assertion which,when duly considered, implies, that " the people of England can never be ruined but by themselves" —since it cannot be denied that Parliament is but the deputed organ of the people,—selected, and empowered by the people to express their wishes, feelings, and sen timents upon every question in which are involved the birth-right privileges they enjoy from the Constitution. " The power of the House of Commons is not original. but delegated to them for the welfare of the people, from whom they received it." If this be not the fact, what then becomes of all our vaunted privileges ? But if the people barter their cwn independence, how can they expect that rights which they have themselves betrayed should be respected by those who have made their venality the passport to Ministerial favour? So long as that venality exists—so long as the traffic in corruption is carried on with impunity, courted by the constituency, and con nived at by the State ; so long► must the most flagrant abuses menace the safety of the Constitution. And how can electors, who are base enough to make a marketable commodity of " their most sweet voices," presume to arraign the conduct of Representatives to whom they have sold themselves, with something more than an im plied understanding that the purchasers are entitled to make the best of their bargain ? With what unblushing effrontery, the traffic of honour and of conscience—the iniquitous sale of the electivo franchise has been carried on, we have been taught, by the declaration of one of the most arbitrary Ministers that ever menaced a country with the infliction of absolute despotism—and by whom the practice was defended in his place in Parliament. Here, then, is the root of the evil, and here must RE FORM commence. THE REMEDY IS IN THE PEOPLE. So say all violent Reformers; but they say so in a spirit widely different from that in which I would have this subject contemplated. I know, I feel, and I acknow ledge, that the remedy is in the People ; but I also know, feel, and acknowledge that the necessity of Re ro u m found birth, and has grown into evil strength, among the People. Possessing the unquestioned, and unqualified right of election, they have been for years the patient witnesses, nay, the abettors, of the corruption of which they complain ; and have abused their own privi leges, by sending back to the very sphere of temptation the men of whose conduct they entertained suspicion— men whom they accused of having betrayed their trust, and of suffering their integrity, their honour, and their bond to their constituents to be alike forgotten : nay more, men whom they charged with having betrayed the confidence reposed in them, from the worst of all possible bad motives ; and converted the powers with which they were invested for the benefit of the people, into the most unwarrantable means of their own aggrandisement. Ad mitting, to the fullest extent, the existence of all the abuses alleged to have crept into the executive of the country, and all the venality so loudly inveighed against, I ask, with whom has the evil originated ?----Again and again I answer, wITH THE PEOPLE. " The Submission of a free people to the authority of Government, is no more than a compliance with laws which they themselves have enacted. The power of King, Lords, and Com mons is not an arbitrary power : they are the trustees, not the owners, of the estate : the feo simple is in us." Now, since the property of the estate is established be yond question in the people, with whom, or by whom, has the monster of corruption been generated ? Strong and powerful as the boroughmongering interest may be, such a plea is not in itself sufficient to exonerate the people from being parties to the work of perversion. All strength, all power, is originally and essentially in the People ; and if they can so far stifle all sense of na tional honour as to re-elect the men who have once be trayed them—men whom they have branded with every foul and disgraceful stigma, whose very names they have made the bye-words of scorn and reproach—if they will, with cringing servility, " with baited breath and whis pering humbleness" salute these men as they approach the hustings, instead of confronting them manfully as in dignant accusers—they are themselves the fittest objects of scorn and of derision ; unworthy of the name of free men, apostates from the sacred cause of liberty, traitors to their country, and defrauders of their posterity. London, Sept. 12, 1829. VERAX. The Brighton Gazette says, " We have heard from a private channel the very unexpected information, that a serious misunderstanding has arisen between the French and English Governments. Without guaranteeing the accuracy of this statement, we can assure our readers that it is derived from a source of very high authority." At a late hour last night we received Dutch Papers to the 16th inst. An article from Berlin, alluding to the levies now making in the Russian and Polish Empire, calculates the population at 59 millions, which would give the number to be raised under the new conscription, at 354,000. SPANISH Ex PEDITION.—This famous armada, almost as famous as the Miguelite expedition lately driven with loss and disgrace from the sacred shores of Terceira, ap pears to have been somewhat roughly handled, if not by the Mexicans, against whose liberty it is directed, at least by the winds which were to have wafted it in triumph to their shores. It appears from the American Papers, al ready mentioned, that the American ship Bingham, one of the vessels chartered as transports at the Havannah, bad put into New Orleans in distress with five hundred troops on board, having been separated from the squad ron on the 11th of July, in a violent tempest. The Spa nish Consul applied for permission for the troops to land until the vessel was repaired, which was granted by the Governor on certain conditions. It is strange to see the subjects of a free state thus lending themselves to aid in rivetting the chains of others ; to see Britons disposed to favour tyranny in Portugal, and American Republicans contributing to the subjugation, or rather the attempted subjugation, of a sister Republic ; but so it has been in every age, and in every country of the world : the thorough-paced republican is the most selfish animal in ex istence ; he would engross all the happiness of the world to himself, and leave, not so much as a crumb for others to pick up. Rome, in all the plenitude of her republican great ness, was one of the most ambitious tyrants, and the most unfeeling conquerors.—ln more modern times, Europe can tell what happiness, what freedom, Revolutionary France bestowed ; and the conduct of the United States has uniformly betrayed a sufficient readiness to co operate in the extinction of liberty abroad, provided her citizens were allowed to clamour and riot at home. They are ready to do any dirty work for hire, and reply, as Vespesian did to Titus, that the unsavoury origin of the gain did not extend itself to the tribute.—Plymouth Weekly Journal. The Treadmill, at Exeter, is actually unemployed for mot of handy or rather legs, to keep the mill In motion. BATTLE OF NAVARIN. COURT MARTIAL aeon CAPTAIN DICKENSON, R.N. HONOURABLE ACQUITAL OF CAPTAIN DICKENSON. Potersmortu, Tauasoar, Sam 17. This long-pending trial terminated this day a little before four o'clock. The Court, as mentioned in Wednesday's report, was oc cupied during the whole of that day in hearing the evidence read, a duty which occupied the Judie Advocate for the space of seven hours. This day was entirely spent in deliberation upon the judg ment, and the length of the consideration was rumoured chiefly to appertain to a difference of opinion upon the point of adding epi thets, by way of characterizing the sense entertained by the Court of the nature of the charges. As the Court sat from nine o'clock until past three o'clock with dosed doors, the anxiety of the persons in attendance increased with the passing of the day. It was known that several of the members of the Court Martial were themselves peculiarly placed, so as to make it indispensable for them to finish this business. The Ganges was paying off since ten o'clock in the morning, and her Captain (Inglefield) would, by the striking of his flag, he rendered incapable of serving as a member on Friday. The Briton, Captain Gordon, was under weigh in the harbour for Lisbon, and he had only to row from the Victory to his own ship, to prepare for his voyage; and Admiral thways's carriage had the horses ready for a journey from twelve o'clock in the day. It was evident, therefore, that there were personal as well as gene ral reasons fur the Court to hasten to a conclusion. The crowd in waiting exceeded any hitherto on board the Vi tory during this trial. A little before three o'clock the witnesses were called into Court through a different entrance from the usual door, and soon after the puhlic were admitted in one overwhelm ing rush. The witnesses were allowed to stand within the railing which enclosed the Court. The Members sat covered at the table, Capt. Dickenson's sword lying upon it, with the handle towards him. The Captain stood, with his Solicitor near him, in their usual places. Notwithstanding the rush and uproar of the crowd, all became still in a moment, and a breathless anxiety was evinced while the Judge Advocate proceeded to go through the formal business which precedes the sentence. The Juoca-ADVOCATE read as folloWi At a Court-martial, assembled on board His Majesty's ship Victory, in Portsmouth-harbour, no the ::tith day of Aug., 18:29, and continued by adjournment, front dry to day, Sundays excepted, until the 17th day of September, 1329, — PRESENT : " The Hon. Sir Romer Srorroan, K.C.8., Admiral of the Blue, Commander-in-Chtef of his Majesty's ships and vessels at Spithead and in Portsmouth-harbour, President. " The Hon. Sir Haney BLAORWOOD, Bart, K.C.8., Vice-Admiral of the Blue. "Sir RODRRT WALLS& °Tway, K.C.8., Rear-Admiral of the Red. " Captain ALEZ•IitIRL WILMoT SVHOMDIRO. " Captain GIORGI Nlexpv, C.B. " The Hon. GRORGE ELLIOT. " Captain &MIMI. Hoon isaterma. " The Hon. WILLIAM GORDON. '• Pursuant to an order from the !light Honourable Lords Com missioners of the Admiralty, clued the 18th day of July, 1829, and directed to the President, setting forth that their Lordships had re ceived from Vice-Admiral Sir R. Codrington three letters, of the dates stated in the margin,* setting forth the particular instances in which be bad reason to disapprove of the conduct of Captain R. Dickenson, C.B. on board his Majesty's ship Genoa, during the action that took place at Navarino on the 20th of October, 1827. after he had assumed the command of the said ship, in consequence of Captain Bathurst being wounded and taken off the deck, and of his subsequent conduct on board the said ship until his arrival at Malta; the Court proceeded to inquire into the conduct of Captain Richard Dickenson, C. B. on the occasions stated by the Vice- Admiral in his said letters, and to try him for the sante ; and having heard the evidence produced in support of the charges, and by the said Captain Richard Dickenson in his defence, and what he had to allege in aid thereof ; and having maturely and deliberately weighed and considered the whole, " The Court are of opinion, that the charges have not been proved against the said Capt. Richard Dickenson,—that the charge stating that the account of the battle given in the Genoa's log book, erroneously implies that the Genoa had three Ottoman ships of the line opposed to her on the starboard side, three 60-gun frigates on her larboard side and a-head; a double-banked frigate astern,'—is frivolous and groundless. " That the return made by Capt. Dickenson, that Capt. Ba thurst was killed in action, knowing that he did not die until many hours after the battle was over,'—was made without the slightest appearance of any improper motive. " That the charge, stating that the Genoa continued firing after the battle was over, at the risk, and to the probable injury of the Allied ships, until hailed by the Asia to cease,' is vexatious. " That the letter presented by Capt. Dickenson to Sir Edward Codrington, purporting to come from the crew of the Genoa, and desiring that Vice-Admiral Sir E. Codrington would appoint him in preference to any other officer to succeed Captain Bathurst, as Captain of the Genoa, appears to be a petition, which was pre sented without any improper motive being imputable to Captain Dickenson ; but in presenting which he was guilty of an impro priety, for which he has already received the reproof of his Com mander-in-Chief. And the Court doth adjudge the said Captain Richard Dickenson to be honourably acquitted, and he is hereby honourably acquitted accordingly." The instant the reading of the sentence was concluded, a burst of applause ran through the Court. Sir Roarer &famus, the President, then rose and said,— " Captain Dickenson, I have the honour of returning you the sword which you have worn, and which has not been dishonoured in the service." Captain Dickenson, in receiving it, made a low bow to the Court, and the members instantly withdrew, the President having said— .' This Court is now dissolved." As Captain Gordon (who bad to pass near Captain Dickenson) retired, he shook bands with him ; and several of the officers of the Genoa immediately proceeded to congratulate their old commander upon his honourable acquittal, and the parties who were with them came ashore in the highest state of exultation. Sir E. Codrington had left Portsmouth in the morning for town, and all the vehicles of the place were in speedy requisition for the numerous persons who were attracted either by buainess or cario sity to this interesting and unusually protracted trial. It presents the only instance itt modern times, in which the Judge-Advocate, antecedent to the sentence, was required to go through the evidence front beginning to end, as a summing up, before the consideration of the judgment; the members usually pronouncing it from their own notes of the principal tacts deposed by the witnesses. It remains to be seen whether any ulterior pro. ending will, or can, arise from the events of this singular trial. • June 14, 1829; June 24, 1829; July 17, 1829. AN IRISH FROLIC.---An unfortunate affray has taken place in the neighbourhood of Glanwonh, county of Cork. On Sunday last many thousands of the country people assembled at the funeral of Denis Daly, who was executed on the previous day, at the County Gaol, for the abduction of Anne Gallagher; and his relatives having determined, through a spirit of revenge, to de posit the corpse at the door of the prosecatrix, it was opposed by tit it active and intelligent hlagistnte, Major Gen. BAaer,who bad received information of the intention, and who had some of the police with him, and remonstrated with the people. This had no Abet on them, for they immediately struck the General, and violently attacked the Police with stones. The Riot Act was obliged to be read; and, the lives of the Police being endangered, by orders of the Magistrate, they bred, when, as we are informed, one man named Woman was killed, and some wounded—a horse was killed. The Pollee was necessitated to redee,and a reinforce. meat of the military was called out from Permoy, to preserve peace, and prevent further outrage. TO THE TRUMPETERS OF THE GOT!!. The Ministers' satellites continue in their zeal t -r the great modern RTCPI'.I.II7.II, to demand wi.nt he has done to draw down universal anisnadversion ! We reply with another question :—what has he done to merit one wo:ut of praise ? The shills** measure of Catholic Emaneipat ion is all they adduce in honour and defence of their Gothic idol ; and leava the rest of his conduct to the negative plea---of " no harm in it ;"—as if a Minister merely harmless was not a Minister truly dangerous. But the vaunted act of liberality imputed to him, was no more a spontaneous enlightened wish in him to encourage freedom of opinion, than it will he for him to grant fur ther concessions in the cause of Constitutions . ' Liberty. Irish emancipation was begun, carried on, and matured, by his predecessors.; and he was merely whirler!, with a vet tigo kind of feeling, hoaamg to the execution of the project, without aprar;nutly reflecting what 1m v as about. The improvident unrestricted manner in which he yielded to the popular meas.:re., proves more precipitation than foresight. But as his friends resolve to advocate him on the inter rogatory B:•stern, we shall pursue their own method, and inquire—ls he in league or not with NlErenttx Rot, to restore arbitrary power and arbitrary forms throughout Europe Is he or is he not. the secret friend and arivlse. of the blusodv usurper of Portugal ? Did his hatred of CA NN IN (: and all Constitutions curry hint or not, amuugst the first acts of his administration, to plot against the new form of Government established in that country ? Is it, or is it not, through his connivance. that Spain endangem our influence in the Poninsts;i by encroaching on the Portugaese frontier? Has .he, Ot has he not, intrigued with POLIGN AC to arrest thus march of freedom in France, to fetter the Press, and re-establish all the horrors of an atrocious Police? Has he. or has he not, connived at the progress of Russia,—foolishly—crimineily permitted, after all the efforts of the preceding Miuistas to the contrnry, to allow that all-grasping Power to sit down on the Dardanelles, to the danger of British commerce and all Europe's independence. ? Is lie, or is he not, the enemy of all that is liberal, enlightened, and pure— an egotist, a bungler, and a despot ? We shall delight to laarn that he is all the natio!: should wish him ; and wait Liost anxiously for the proofs of his talents curd virtue. • •• • LIBEL. It appears from the Sydney Papers that W 11.1.1.% FosTr.it, Esq., CommiFzioner of the Court of Request„ has brought an action against the EniToa of tlie tralian, for calling the worthy functionary a murvito ! The damages are laid at 5001. Seduced by the force of great example, the Collie man who drives the Brighton Coach has, we understand, entered an action of libel against Dtooottv Pit tLeo.r, out-door waiter of the Goose and Gridiron, for having stigmatized his character in several letters address:A to POLL RAWLIKIN ; in which the waiter has not scrupled, in various passages, to apply to the worthy conductor of the Brighton, the disgraceful and most injurious term— " proud !"—by which the plaintiff's credit has been seriously injured ; and his health, from anxiety and mortification, materially impaired. The other Gentle men ef the Whip participate to a man in his indigna tion, and await with impatience the result of this im portant trial. No less a personage than the august BEADLE . :WA Street-keeper of St. Giles's has also, we understand, i!i support of his high character, been compelled, f: on, what he feels due to himself and friends, to enter a simi lar action against Mrs. Sit EILA O'GALLAGIIAN, dealer in fruit and lollypop on the outskirts of Holborn pave ment ; she having in divers inflammatory speeches and writings opprobriously called him " overbearing !" Flesh and blood, unable to bear so foul a charge made upon a gentleman bearing lace and mace, he very properly sur prised, overturned, and dispersed her stock in trade.— arrested her children as vagrants,—and her sister on sus picion of not being what she ought to be ;—has exerted his influence to prevent parochial relief being extended to her mother ; and, after very justly giving her a black eve and a bloody nose, is now suing her fur reparation of character sustained by the horrible epithet in question. SIIADRACH AREDNEGO LEVI, a respectable dealer and vociferator of old cloaths, residing in Hollywell street, has taken the same steps in vindication of his honour and credit, infamously attacked by SUSAN SCRUBLY, housemaid somewhere in the county of Mid dlesex,—she having promulgated a report that he was " grasping!" A most respectable watchman has also commenced proceedings against a Corinthian, for having applied the self same epithet to him in a letter from the round-house. Mr. BRYAN BOLTON, a most humane gentleman and turnkey in Horsemonger-lane jail. being now fully aware of what libel is, and what it is not,—has applied to his soli citor to proceed against a prisoner; who, in a written com plaint sent in to the head jailer three months ago, had the temerity to style him—B RYA N BOLTON—" an op pressor, a despot, and a tyrant ! " The overseer of the tread-mill, and a Captain of press-gang, are preparing similar charges against various offenders. And above all, Mr. Ho BLE it, the Lostu MA V on's celebrated jester, it is also rumoured, has resolved to prosecute forthwith certain crusty persons who have refused to laugh at his jokes, and accuse him of " endanyerioy the State ;"—nay more, for harbouring a plan of supplanting his MAJLSTY ! ! ! All these facts clearly show that if his Grace the Dukc: of WELL'S GTON does nothing more to benefit his coun try as a Minister, he at least bids fair to benefit us essen tially by introducing greater circumspection in speech and writing. Billingsgate and St. Giles have boen thrown into a fearful panic at the ex-ojkibs ; and the inhabitants of these parishes have been gulping down their big words ever since the measures of the Pit r. mit: ft have been known. This purification of vulgar language must render the Duke immortal. If he succeeds, :t statue will be raised to his honour in the middle of Bi!- lingsg-ate fish-mat ket. He is 71 great man !!! I t 1 4 1 CORN-EXCIIANdETMARK-LANE. SIM le. Wr had a large supply of Wheat during the week, and the mealing trade was csrremely dull this morning, but certainly Monday'‘ prices were fully supported. Barley was nonnn I. havir.g very little at market ; and had any appeared, higher prices war.l,l have been obtained, u the weather continues unfavourable for the Spring grain. Oars maintain our last currency. IMPORTATION.' SING MONDAY. Wheat, English (qrs.) . 5,600 Barley, Foreign Irish . . I Oat, El lglillb . Foreign • 7.650 1 Foreign Henry,l D4/fish . 380 j Irish Irish . . —r— l Flour (sacks) COAL 31ARKET—Tuts DAT. 6ZO . . 2.9 CO I.Y SO . . 3,900 HALT-TAIT thes.—This day's supply of Sunderland and \tw. castle Coal was spin very abundant, 52 new ships baring arrived since Wednesday last, making a total on the week's arrivals of 168 Alps. The Coal Exchange was well attended by merclunts, but •be demand for Coal was not equal to the supply. Ship arrived during Inc month, 348. Best Walbend Coati 33a. 6d. 335. 94. 345. 6d. Other sorts Ships at Market ....... 112. I' 1 : ,