Star. — London, England, 1817-02-20 00:00:00

)tive been formed, and are daily forming, under that . ;Ind other denominations in the country. Among the persons adepting these principles it is common to disclaim Parliamentary Reform AS unworthy of their atterrion. Their objects are avowed in a hand-bill dispersrd by the Society ot that description in Lon don, and it numerous other publicatiOns. These ob.: iecfs are, ft A parochial - partnership in land, on the priticip;z that toe landholders are not proprietors in chief; that they are hut the stewardi of the public ; that the lard is the people's farm; that landed mono poly is. cortrary to the spirit of Christianity. and sissti active of the independeuce and morality of niankiiii." The Societies under these different names are so numerous, and so various, that it has beets difficult to obtain a complete view of all of them, or to com prehend them under any general description. The country Societies are principally to be found in and near the neighbouthood of Leicester. Lough. borough, Nottingham, Mansfield, Detby, Chester field, lilackburne. Manchester, Binning hani, aid Norwich, and in Glasgow and its vicinity ; but they extend and are spreading, in some parts of the country, to almost every village. In addition to all the arts of seduction, resort is also had to a system of intimidation, and threats are head out to those who refuse to join. Their combinations are artfully con trived to secure secrecy in their proceedings, and to give to the leading members undisputed authority over the rest. Oaths of secrecy have been liequently administered, some ot which are of the must Atrocious and dreadful import. They do not, however, trust to this security alone to prevent discovery; their proceedings are seldom reduced to writing ; they pass and are communicated by wcrd of mouth. The more numerous meetings delegate all authority to a managing Committee; and by that Committee, and by meetings of dele gates from the Committees of different Societies, every thing of importance is transacted. The Committees themaelves are also cautious of reducing any of their proceedings to writing, com municating with each other only by delegates and 'Missionaries, _ _ It appears that, in some parts of the country, arms have been lately procured by individual members of these Societies in considerable quantities, which can only have been done with•a view to the use of force. Subscriptions are also generally required, which, al though the amount paid by each individual may be very ; small, may produce, trom the large numbers of the contributors, ao inconsiderable fund. ' The destructive objects which the leading mem bers of these Societies have in view are demonstrated by their publications and by their proceedings, all equally calculated to inflame the minds of the mem bers, and in general of the poorer classes of the com munity. At the ordinary meetings of these Societies, which are often continued to a late hour, their time is principally employed in listening to speeches tend ing to the destruction of social order, recommending a general equalization of property, and at the same time endeavouring to corrupt the morals of the hearers, and to destroy all reverence for religion. The lanuh.ilder has been represented as a monster who must be hunted down, and the fundholder as a still greater evil ; and both have been described as rapacious creatures, who take from the people 1.5 d out of every quartern loaf. They have been told that' Parliamentary Reform is no mole then a halt mea sure, changing only one set of thieves for another ; and that they must go to the land, as nothing short of that would avail them. Another principal employ ment of their time is to listen to publications of the same description as the speeches, containing the same docti fines, and leading to the same purposes ; and the meetings ale hefluently terminated, particularly in London, by profane and seditious songs and parodies of parts of the liturgy, in which the responses are chauoted by the whole company. By such means, and by tle profession of open infidelity, in which some of the usembers.indidge in their speeches, the mind, of those who attend their meetings are tainted and depraved ; they are taught contempt for all decency, all law, all religion and morality, and are thus pre. par .d fur the most.atratioas scenes of outrage and violence. Among the most effectual means of furthering these dangerous designs, the Committee think it their• duty particularly to call the attention of the House to the unremitting activity which has been employed throughout the kingdom in circulating to an unpre cedented extent, at the lowest prices or gratuitously, publications of the most seditious and inflammatory nature, marked with a peculiar character of irreligion and blasphemy, and tending not only to ovetturn the existing form of Government and order of Society, but to root out those principles upon which alone auy Government or any Society can be supported. The Committee cannot but consider the late attack upon his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, on his way from opening the present Session of Parliament, as an additional and melancholy proof of the efficacy of this system, to destroy all reverence for authority, and all sense of duty, and to expose . to insult, rndig. l and hazard, the person of the immediate repre-' srntative of the Sovereign, even in the exercise of one of the most important parts of his Royal functions. It appears to be an essential part of the system to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by pub lic meetings, convoked either by the kadors of these Societies, or by others, in the metropolis, and in populous places and districts, to address the multi• tulle in terms of unprecedented lkenle and ♦iolence, amounting even in some instances to an open decla ration that, in case of non-compliance with their petitions, the Sovereign will have forfeited his claim to their allegiance. These proceedings are subse quently printed and circulated, and thus become a fresh vehicle for sedition and treason. By the frequency of these Meetings, and by the new practice of continuing them (under various pre texts) by frequent adjournment!, the minds of his Majesty's well-disposed and peaceable subjects are . h e ld in a state of perpetual agitasion and alarm. The appointment of such public Meetings in a variety of damn places on the same Ay -appears to'be coati dered as the most effectual means of accompli.hing the designs of the disaffected, and must evidently, in a high degree• embarrass and impede the exertions of all civil powers applicable• to the suppression of disturbances, distract the attention of Government, and oblige them so to subdivide and harass the mili tory. Mice which it may be accessary to call in for the issistance of the civil poste, is to rand& it war. quote to the maintenance of public tranquillity. Such a state of things cannot he suffered to cont►- sue without hazarding the-most imminent and dread ful evils; and although the C ,mmittee do not pre sume to anticipate the decision of Parliament as to the particular measures to he adopted in the present emergency. they feel it to he their duty to express their decided opinion. that further provisions are ne cessary for the preservation of the public peace, and for the protection of interests in which the happiness of every class of the community is deeply and equally involved. P.4RLWIENTARY PRoCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEBRUARY 111. On adenissln\to the gallery atter the ballot for a Committee to try the merits of a Petition, complaining of en undue return for the Borough of, Watton.Basset, Mr. C. W. WYNN was found animadverting on the irregular conduct of some Members, who, atter their entratot into the House, had withdrawn before a sufficient number to form the ballot had appeared. He tborght that some rule of greater Severity was essential to the proceed ings of the House, and that it was due to its dignity to adopt ef fectual means fo‘enforcing the attendance of defaulters The SPEAKER observed, that it was uncpiestatiably within the competence of the House to establish any order for the pur pose of effectuating the transaction of public business, and con trolling the toothier of its own Members. He was of opinion, that some interposition of its authority was required under the cocumstatices which bad taken place. The question before the House now was, that the names of the absentees on the ballUt should be reported on Friday neat. '1 his motion was then put, and carried. Sir ROBERT HERON gave notice, that on Friday, the tnth, be would submit a proposi , ion for reducing the establishment at Windsor to as low a scale as might be consistent with the dig nity of the Crown. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved, that the House be called over on Friday neat —Ordered. ARMY RSTIM ATE,. Lord PALMERSTON rose to give notice, that he should move is a Committee of Supply, on Friday, for the sum of 4500,000 towards the currentAxpeuses of the military service. Mr. BROUGHAM expressed a hope that it was nut Intended that the House should be drawn into ny premature or suSden discussion upon the general subject of our military establishments. Lord PALMERSTON replied, that he had Ile object beyond that of inducing the House to vote a certain portion of the ogees-, sary expenses in the mean time, for the purpose of carrying oat the public service. A variety of papers, pursuant to the order of the House, were then presented at the bar : among them was an account of the number of Licences granted to country Bankers in the year i 814., and an account of the number go( Prisoners now under sentence of death in Newpte. Mr. LAMB lON inquired whether there was any Indisposi tion on the part of his hiajesty's Ministers, to produce a cups of a Dispatch written by Lord Casdereagh to the foreign Minister at Lisbon, in the year 1814, on the I übject of the expenses of that mission. The CHANCELLOA of the EXCHEQUER was not ap prised that any objection would be made to the produstion of this document; but as the Noble Secretary for horeign Albite was not then in his place, Ise coold wish that the Honourable Gentle man might defer the inquiry for the present ? Lord COCHRANE, &died whether there would be any dill ' culty in producing the a:count. ot Mr. ?enteric of suothampton ; and also a return of the number a Distresses levied for armors due to °OVUM/WI/I in the course of the last year? The CHANCELLOR ot the EXCHEQUER replying io the negative, the Noble Lord named Monday neat for his motion. ADJOURNMENT tile THZ HoUML . The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved, that the House at its rising do adjourn till Friday next. Mr. BROUGHAM declared, that it was far from his wish to object to such a motion, merely because he thought it might suit the convenience of his Ma jesty's Ministers, or to oppose it upon any other ground than that of the urgency and importance of the business which stood before the Hem. Even if it had been understood.on Monday last that such an adjournment would be proposed, still incidents had since occurred which constituted a new objection to it. There had the day before, in c'nsequence of a default in the attendance of Members , been no House I and one or two most important questions had neces sarily dropped, and now remained to be fixed for a futu're day. When he considered the nature of the motion which was to have been brought forward by an Honourable-Baronet (Sir M. W. Ridley), viz. a motion for reducing some of the Lords of the Admi ralty, the reasons might be easily apprehended why his Majesty's Ministers had not honoured the House on that occasion with their presence.—(Hear, hear, from the twaitition).—This then was,., in his opinion, ' one cause for not Consenting to lose another day.— Further delay must necessarily take place in conic-, quence of disclosures which were expected to be made, and the whole of next week was already en gaged by different notices. The Honourable Baro net's motion must, if the proposed adjournment took place, be thus put 4 to an indefinite period, and for no other reason than that it was not the pleasure of Ministers to make a House..—(lforousrs from the other tide of :ht 'Heate).-11 the .able Lord whom he now saw in his place, or any Gentleman on the Treasury Bench, would say that it was 'the wish of Ministers that a House should be made, he would believe it, but not till then.—(Hear, hear).—The in tended delay was indeed, in one respect, consolatory to him, after having heard much of the presting na ture of contents of that Report which was about to be submitted to them, 'sallow he infeired from that delay, that it had not been deemed necessary to recommend any innovations on the Constitution, or any infringements on the rights of the Subject. Had such measures been in contemplation, it appeared to him impossible that two days should be thus suffered to be lost. The_ CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, it was generally known that them was always considerable difficulty in slaking a House on days appointed for a ballot. Eyed with the advantage of a call, the same di ffi culty had. been experienced that Jay, and there had scarcely been A sufficient number foe forming the Committee. He believed that it was very well understood that the Cabinet Ministers were employed in a very important investigation yesterday, 1 at the time when the House usually met. He did not think the Honourable and Learned Gentleman had stated any reason sufficient to induce the House to depart from the ordinary respect hither*, shewn in setting apart the birth-day of her Majesty by a sus ension of public business. It seemed to him ridi culous to suppose that any real inconvenience could are with regard to the motion on the :object of the Lords of the Admiralty, as an oppoettiffity for enter ing into that discussion would be afforded in the Com mutes on the Navy Estimates. He was astonished that any Member **should say that it was of conse. quence whether that discossion took place imme dietely. or a month hence.—(4 laugh fres s op f r•- aifiegs).—He certainly regretted that any delay bad mewed; and one of the effects of it must be, that the. kept* of .0A- Sieves &rankle, could not.be taken into coosidetatlon before Monday. Such &by, were, honrever,' frequent ; no Witte could attach on their account to . Ministers, and he believed the only practical inconvenience would *be sortie ttansposition of the (Wets and Notices standing on the paper. Mr. CALCRAFT etptessed a wish that some ar rangement should be immediately agreed to. lie was not aware that it was a matter of coutse to adjourn over the Queen's bitth•day ; but he hoped, in conse. quence of that adjournment. Fridley next would be conceded to the Honourable Baronet for bringing forward a question, in his opinion, of very great importance. Lord CASTLEREAGH did not think a question relating to the reduction of two offices could be placed, in point of urgency or importance, in competition with a general inquiry into the Poor Laws of the Country. There was no subject on which the atten tion of the House could be engaged that would be re. ceived by the Country as a surer pledge of their dis position to enter into any investigation, however ex tended or elaborate, with a view to the adoption of measures which might be demanded by the exigen cies of the time. Independent of subjects which might affect the immediate safety of the State, there was none that called for more prompt and anxious consideration. He hoped, therefore. the Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Curwen) would not be induced to postpone his notice. With regard to the insinuations of the Honourable and Learned Gentleman, he did not think them very reepectlill to the House; and, involved as his Majesty's Ministers were in the same censure, he did not think himself called upon to give any answer to them. Although not at all aware of any thing pressing in point of time, which belonged to the Hohourable Baronet's notice, he would con sent, should there not be time for going into it on, Friday. that it should stand for Tuesday next. But he could not agree that an inquiry into the system of the present administration of the Po , r Laws ought to yield the precedeqcy to a motion for altering the establishment of the Admiralty, which had been set tled at the Revolution.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. CURWEN declared, that he felt unwilling to accede to the postponement desired bar some of his Honourable Friends, as he did not think he should be doing justice to the subject. Sir .M. W. RIDLEY thought the proposed (Way a strong proof of the apprehensions entertained by Ministers as to the result of the motion of which he had given notice. He was present the day before at four o'clock, and there was but one iudividual mem ber of the Governmeat at that hour in his place.— There were. however. several in neighbouring Offices, and at no great distance, but the disposition to attend seemed to be wanting.—(llearauer). The question for the adjournment over to-morrow was then put and carried without a division. The following names were then read. being those on which the ballot had fallen for constitutidg the Coat mitt e to try the merits of the Wooers-Basset Elettioss Was. Limits. Esq. Slr M. Foucans. Joist HA avows, Esq. Was. Huasr, Esq. FITXIIIIOI, Eq. J. ROUND, Esq. ISONNTOII, Esq. R. Ainacaosssis.Esq. Lord W: W. tonics, Esq. T. ESTCOURT, Esq. C. Haavie, Joni Joins, Esq. Sir J. WINTOSth Joao BASTAID, Esq. COMMITTEE OF SECRECY. Mr. B. BATHURST appeared at the bar with the Report of the Committee of Secrecy. to whom certain papers laid before the House by command of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent had been referred. On the motion of Lord CASTLF.REAGH, the Report was ordered to be read, and appeared to us so differ but little in substance from the Report pre sented en the preceding day to the House of Lords. —lt commenced by stating, that the remit of the inquiries instituted by the Committee had been to convince them, that attempts had been made in va. 'ions parts of the country, to take advantage of the present distresses of the labouring classes. by teach. sag them to look for immediate relief from plans of Parliamentary Reform. These reforms were made to consist chiefly in universal ,ufrac, and the elec• tion of Representatives by ballot Under cover of these schemes nu doubt, however, could remain, that many of those ivho were the most active in the sup. port of the ostensible object, contemplated nothing less than the entire overthrow of the landed, and ex tinction of the funded property. These piojects were indeed unequivocally avowed by an association el persons who professed a set of principles comprised in what was commonly denominated the Spencean Plan, from the name of a visionary writer of that name, who published it *bout twenty years ago. At a meeting of these persons, held within the last month, the question was discussed, whether the sues eau of a reform in Parliament was not likely to pro- Juce more evil than good ; and it was decided, that it could only be productive of disadvantage to the true interests of the country. It was further resolved, that no constitution had ever existed, and that no man could tell what it was. The landholder, how ever, it was clear., was a =master who ought to be hunted down, but that the landholder was a still more mischievous member in the community. At these meetings the most blasphemous doctrines were freely propagated, and as they were generally of a convivial character. they seldom terminated without songs, in which the most profane and sedi tious topics were introduced. Parodies on the liturgy had been repeated in chorus on these occasions ; but in more deliberate moments the arts resorted to were chiefly directed towards distressed lab o urers, soldiers, and disbanded seamen. Their doctrines were circu lated to a great extent by means of cheap publica tions. and handbills distributed gratuitously. Some of these parties appeared to have entertained, for I considerable time, the project of raising a great power by means of a popular insurrection, and over turning, by physical strength, some of the most im portant establishments of the country. In further ance of this &taiga, Committees had been appointed in differeetleatters, in the preparation of a firce . which should be strong enough to overpower the guarded% duty, and to possess itself of the artillery. The Beek and the Tower were to be'the first objects of the assault, sod the construction of a machine bad been projected, which should have the effect of impeding the approach of the wok'''. Thls latter project appealed to have been relinquished, and, pre vious to the intended ruing, it was judged expedient to attntAill a as tar as Might be possit•te, the strength t and number of th e conspirators. For th is ptiipbse h was resolved, that a general meeting should be a d : vertised, and the map of London was carefully e ra; mined, that the most spacious and convenien t spot In: the assemblage of a large multitude might b e selected. The place at len g th chosen w as Spafiod sp and th e minds of the populace were ins'ustrieu s l y prepared for the occasion by placard s , st i mu l at i ng the n.ost violent and even sanguinary recesse s; one of them begianing with these weeds, .. Britons to arms—the 14 0 d belongs to the people—no taxes--n e Bishops, no useless lumber—down with the R egent —down with Castlereagh." The leaders of the in. n.. tended insurrection already began to erect th e t coloured flag, and to assume other symbols of t h e French Revolution. A Committee of Safety h a d been appointed, consisting of 24 persons, a n d t h e names of particular individuals had been adve it i ser t as proper objects of their hos ility appeared have been determined, that no violence should b e employed at the first meeting; but the opport un i ty w is net lost of appointing a second, at which, p re . vinus to the commencement of the ostensible bed ness, the most seditious and inflammatory harangues were addressed to the people assembled. The inter. val between the two meetings had been employed in conveying the intelligence of a second meeting being about to take place to all the Most populous districts in the kingdom. One of the Committee discharged all the immediate expanses, and active preparations were made for seducing the soldiers from their elle. giance. The barracks had beeit reconnoitred, and an accurate account taken of the different gunsmiths* &lops, and of the arms which were Likely to be found in them. Plans were likewise adopted foe seducing the sailors, an 4 getting possession of the shipping, by hold ing nut hopes of high rank unda the new goiernmest. —For the accomplishment of these objets n i gre at lquantity of arms sweated to have been provided, but a sufficient supply was probably expected from the spoliation of the gunsmiths' shops and ware. houses. One person, however, had been employed in the manufacture of two hundred mid fifty pike. heads, which order he had executed, and had been paid for. On the day of the second meeting above al. iuJed to, a general invitation was circulated by printed hand-bills and various ensigns,' exhortirz the pope: lace to rally round the tricoloured flag, and a wag gon was brought to the ground, contaming a certain quantity of ammunition. The mob proceeded thence into the city, where they broke open several shops, for the purpose of se , zihg arms, and manifested desire to make an immediate att ack upon the Tower, in the hope of bring able either to overpower or se. duce the garrison—but from a subsequent belief that their numbers were insufficient, appeared to have laid aside this design. However improbable the success of these prnj(c!.s was in the estimation of the Committee, they had yet no doubt of their having been deliberately ento tertsined by a set of desperate men. The excesses which had been committed were clearly not the effect of any sudden explosion of popular feeling, nor woe produced by the onauthorised arts of a single indivi dual. The design had been common to many, and had been entertained with the most confident rapes cations of success The information which had been submitted to the Committee, with respect to similar excesses in other parts of the country, had led them to the conclusion, that one great source of mischief and delusion had been the formation of societies, assuming the name, after one established in the metropolis, of Hampden clubs, and the principle of which was to multiply themselves nut only in all the great towns, but in every village. The object professed by these asso ciations was Parliamentary &for ii on the widest basis; but the Committee could not hesitate to say, that their members, who consisted chiefly of the ia• touring classes in the manufacturing districts, ex pected and avowed that they aimed at nothing A ul t of revolution. The principles of the Spencean plan were universally disseminated, and tracts published which directly attacked the foundation of all loyalty arid all religion. It had been proved, that they talked freely of the demolition of churches, as well as the equal division of the land, of which it was not uncommon for individuals to mark out their own fu ture allotments. They boasted, when questioned upon their religious opinions, that uiey were nit ashamed to confess that they abhorred tyranny of every sort—a belief appeared to prevail among teen that the day of general rising was not far distant. At Manchester the news of a second meeting in Spafields had been received with exultation, and the capture of the Bank and the 'rower generally ante cipated—they spoke with confidence of the number of their adherents; the able-bodied men were distin guished, the names of those whom they supposed to be their enemies were registered, and the writes — ' 4 be ready, be steady," understcod to be the general signal which they would at some time he called upon to obey. Many manufacturers of arms had latriv received very large orders, and different modes loI" been taught, extensively, of converting the iniFlL smuts of husbandry into offensive weapons. The clubs alluded to had been extended as fir as Glasgow, and the Committee were usianituouely rf opinion, that under the pretence of a Reform in tie Representation, the object of many was the overdue , of the existing f, tin tit Government in this country. This they considered t., be a fair and necessary in ference from the iwarination which. had been laid before than; but the) had declined to communicax in an appendix the evidence on which they found their jiiiisment, Irian an apprel;eniWn tit danger ts particular individuals, :TOM a belief mit it nerts it published at this mornei.t, prejudi,e, iu some C 00/ the due administration of justice. The Committee were happy in the consideration. that the disaffection apreared to have heen contineJ to the manufacturing and more popti:ous districts. where distress w as the most prevalent. and that eve there bad been instances of exemplary fortitude in chi support of great privations, and in resisting the art* put into practice liar the purposes of iiidamsuatie d and delusion: which f t wh t ti o hiclohe b i lai a edd d yi d bie r ao d bnn i ot Tie contagion , there was reason to suppose, 1114 reached Jew or none of the agricultural classes; 04 cause t a f n u o t d h s u ce o g r s c o l e laboured. A t the ue i s n i e rri d t i rcs o .d " , r t o h t a th t lA ve rgc ry r pro k ri il felt it their duty to submit to the House, on a tio consideration of the arts and activity of their leselro• the dangerous, lino:lord, and irreligious ago esestmreemetimedisvowee, 1