Star. — London, England, 1821-01-19 00:00:00

, . Possible to say who arotlld be toiriedotit as the Wie - t o or to ,,,onow—(Areese):--Her case was the ~,s . e o f the country— e thing came home to the { ? dings of Englishmen ; if the flames of persecution * are once raised, it would be impossible to. say what t h e y might not consume, or how they could be ex aggnished—ffpp/ause). The Palace of the Sovereign "odd not be mom secure than the cottage of the . to mcat subject. The Honourable Gentleman next statidrerted on an Address got up at the Borough of TrOwbridge, which was called a Loyal Address. flit said that that Address conveyed an indirect in . o k on the county of Wilts ; and he could not but an indignant regret, that two Magistrates :weld be found in the county to put their names to' met Address. Vain and indecent was it to impute t r a toyalty to the People. He should expect from a *Me Lord (Sidmouth), who annually treated the tion with lively turtle and dull speeches, that , lieu least would bear testimony to the loyalty of the Munty. The Honourable Gentleman concluded, :by expressing an expectation that the Resolutions Would be unanimously agreed to. The Duke of Someeser next came forward, and ins received with great applause. He appeared, he said, with pleasure to second the Resolutions—(4- i a am).-aHe thought they were peculiarly necessary . a t the present time--(Great applause).—Never was it mote necessary for the truly loyal, the disinterested, .and the free, to express their sentiments, than at a moment when the Throne itself was put in a state of difficulty by the bad Counsellors who surrounded it --(Applaust).—The People would not suppert those evil Connsellors, though they would gladly support 'the Throne itself—(Applause).—With regard to her Majesty the Queen, she had for years past been little talked of: in consequence of a long absence from England, she had almost become what she originally was—a foreign Princess ; but the first measure of the ?diaisters, at:er the accession of his Majesty to the . Throne, was one which necessarily forced her back on the country. Degraded by the very first act of power, her Majesty arrived in England in a state of alarm and of hostility. Before she touched on the shores of England, the Ministers attempted to dis suade her from coming over. They had but one way of prevailing, hut it was one which, on many bCcasions, they found successful. It was not elo quence—it was not manliness. No—bribery was their common mode of doing business, and they thought it would never fail—(Laughter). —They found, however, that on her Majesty it did fail ; the offer nut only failed, but produced a quite contrary effect from what they expected—(Applause).— Rejected be her Majesty, they next called on the Peers to decide a question between the King and the Queen, which perhaps it was impossible for them to decide impartially ; which certainly they could not decide without in one way or the other injuring their own dignity, and weakening the Throne. It was no wonder that the country became alarmed, when they saw the scales of Justice suspended--(Applause).—lt was no wonder to see the country indignant, when Ministers threatened a recurrence to those proceed ings which were so universally deplored'; when those desperate men, uninstructed by the past, threatened to force upon the country the danger from which it bad so recently and so happily escaped—(Applause). —h became absolutely necessary that the People should raise their voices against those disgraceful measures—that the voice of the Country should echo from the north to the south—from the remotest point of the country to the other—(Applause).—The Noble Date concluded by expressing a hope that the result of the Meeting would be aseneficial to the whole country, as it would be honourable to the public spirit and independence of Wiltshire. He felt ghat Inaketion in seconding the Resolutions. The Resolutions were then put, and carried with a thee dissentient voice.—( flea. Gentleman who did Sleet is his opposition was Mr. MALLET?, the mei Sir DEARLES MALLET?. He appeared to be very yew*. Several Gentlemen expressed a wish to provide a place for him on the platform, so that he night state to the Meeting the grounds of his oppo sition. He did not, however, avail himself of the invitation. He remained in the middle of the crowd, onmoleaei by a single individual). The Hon. Captain BOUVERIE, of the Royal Navy, next came forward. He said, he cordially agreed to may word contained in the Resolutions which had been just passed. They justly condemned the late proceedings against her Majesty ; a measure more annecessary or more impolitic, it was impossible for any Ministers to enter on. Nothing could justify them in commencing such a proceeding, but the - clearest and the most undisputed evidence of the spilt of . her Majesty ; nothing was more clear than do they had no such proofs—(Applause). It became the country to address the Throne against the recur rence to such proceedings ; the sense of the country Dace expressed, would be attended to (Applause). The treation was not the guilt or innocence of the Queen ; hit even if it were, the proceedings against her hay * been abated, she must be presumed innocent.— With respect to the polacca, the part of the case so much relied on, his firm opinion was, that no guilt whatever could be attached to her Majesty, with re- . fiance to her conduct on board the polacca—(Grent abeeting). The most that could oe made of it was, what the Noble Marquis (Lansdown) observed in an- Am place, that the case, as far as it regarded the Pam; allowed the presumption of guilt from the hum risibility of its commission; but if there was a bete presumption of guilt on the one hand, how stagag, in other respects, was the presumption, nay, disproof of her innocence? The greatest injury had beat done to her Majesty—the idea had been most limply conveyed to the minds of thousands, that the polacca afforded comfort and security—now, he could speak as a sailor—he could say, that the cover ing was a mere awning, made, even in the best of hi s MaiistY'l ships, of old worn canvasv—he could hive little doubt that the awning, on board such a paltry vessel as the p o l acca , was mus t i m p er f ec t, an d I Probably full of holes. At any rate, such awning , could not prevent the crew from ascertaining whether must an adulterous intercourse had takeis place. NO !flan would say, that the crew might not have ascer ° a tai ned it, if their curiosity were once excited, and that c otiosity would have bees excited if that interc • • s h ad bees carried on, not for six weeks, but much less common sit days. Majesty ln justice, therefore, and, indeed, in m e on sense, it was but fair to conclude that her was guiltless ; for if she had committed a guilty au on boars: the eolacca, the fact would have P admitted of an easy, clear, and satisfactory proof at the Bar of the House of Lords—(Applause). He' ' concluded by hoping, that the Meeting would unani mouslr_adopt the Petitions which he was about to read.' Sir EDWARD POER, Bart. rose to second the Peti tions to both Houses of Parliament. Whatever were the reasons which had induced Ministers to bring forward proceedings which deluged the country with a mass of abominable evidence—evidence which, un happily had an extensive circulation, and tended to contaminate the minds of the rising generation; whatever might have been their reasons, it was im possible for the People to fathom them, but they were bound to unite in reprobating the temerity which dared to bring the second individual in the State to a trial, even after that proceeding was de. scribed, by one branch of the Legislature, " to be derogatory to the honour of the Crown, and injurious to the best interests of the nation--(Loud applause). He would not yield to any person in loyalty to his King and attachment to the Constitution of his coun try, but at the same time he considered that it was the duty of every man to raise his voice against mea sures which were hostile alike to the morals of the country, to its best interests, and its fundamental liberties—(Applause). The Petitions were carried unanimously. The Duke of SOMERSET moved, that the Marquis of LANSDOWN be requested to present the Petition to the House of Lords. The motion was seconded by the Rev. Mr. GOD DARD, and carried unanimously. Mr. CALLEY, in moving that the two Members for the County be requested to present the Petition to the House of Commons, could not refrain from of fering a few observations to the Meeting. As to the guilt or innocence of the Queen, that was not now the question, for it had already been decided by the House of Peers that she was not guilty. The whole system pursued by Ministers was out of paltry and desperate expedients, and as long its they could find men to lend them money upon the credit of the coun try, so long they were determined to spend it. There , could be no pretence for suffering these men to go on sucking the blood of the country, for it was abso lutely impossible that they could be succeeded by a worse Administration, and there was every rational ground for supposing that their successors would en deavour to relieve the country from its distresses, by pursuing an honest and upright system, instead of that corrupt and profligate system, which had brought the country to the verge of ruin. Mr. JOY seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Mr. BENETT, M.P. for Wilts, said, he rose under very - strong emotions on the present occasion, because he felt it his duty to speak sentiments which were perfectly at variance with those of many of his friends, for whom he entertained the highest regard, and to whom he was under obligations, which be should continue to acknowledge till the latest hour of his life. The duty which he owed to his consti tuents and to his country was, however, paramount to all other considerations, and he could not for a moment hesitate between the strict performance of that duty and any feelings which he might entertain for his friends. If he did not stand forward on such an occasion as the present, and express his opinions, boldly and unequivocally, to the large body of the freeholders who were now assembled, he might justly be regarded as a Man of dark and ambiguous cha racter, and unworthy of that confidence which they bad reposed in him. From the very commencement of the late unfortunate proceedings, no man had felt more hostility to them than himself, or looked for ward with more dread to the inevitable consequences of those proceedings. He agreed with every syl lable of the Petition, and he thought the late pro ceedings in the highest degree unconstitutional, un just, and cruel. He should, indeed, occupy their time to very little purpose, if he were to urge any arguments against them, and he should ad vert, therefore, to another topic, upon which he was anxious to express his opinion. There was a party of Ultra-Royalists in this country, who were desirous of arrogating to themselves all the loyalty of the country, and who stigmatised with the name of Radicals all who presumed to differ from them on a subject of vital importance to the country. The term Radical, in its just and natural sense, was not only an innocent, but an honourable appellation. Every good man would be a Radical Reformer, both with reference to his own faults and.those of others ; but as these Gentlemen applied the term Radical, it signified a miscreant, who, hiving nothing of his own, having no regard for religion or morality, or for the existing institutions of the country, endeavours to pull down what he cannot build up, and to destroy everything, in the hope of obtaining something in the general wreck. Such was their definition of a Radical. For his own part. he despised the idea of rebutting any charge of disloyalty ; he did not be lieve in the existence of Radicalism, in their sense of the term; and he was so far from doubting the loyalty of the people of England, that he believed a more loyal people did not exist on the face of the earth. He did not mean to say that there might not be some disaf fected and seditious persons in the country ; them were also some housebreakers, highwaymen, and pick., pockets in the country, and he firmly believed there_ were as many of one description as of the other.— The Civil Power was in both cases strong enough to coerce and punish them whenever they were met with. If there were any disloyalty in the country, it was attributable only to the conduct of his Majesty's Mi- nisters. Let them turn their attention to the distresses of the country; let them not merely investigate the causes of those distresses, but apply the best remedy to them—a retrenchment of the public expenditure, and the People would soon chew their attachment to the GOvernment. The King might then disband his Army, and find himself safer in the affections of a happy and contented People, than . if he were sur rounded by all the Armies of the Holy Alliance. As. to the various Addresses, *hit li he scarcely knew, how to designate, but which he would call the ful. some Addresses, it was evident that they meant mart than they expreised, Kir they were intended to bolster up a weak and tottering Administration; The Ad dresses professed loyalty, but they meant nothing but. attachment to the King's MiniXters. They declaimed against the licentiousness of the Press, and the immo rality of the present age. He denied that the present age Was immoral, and that the Press was more licen tious now than at any former period. But, whether the Presi veis . liecatlOus or not, Goo forbid that any restraints should be imposed upon it--(Cfseees). The moment the Press was . shackled, England would he in danger of that worst of all tyrannies—the ty-'ranny of a mob ; for the smallest restraint upon the Press would lead to secret combinations, of which the probable consequence would be the establish ment of a democratic tyranny in the country. In speaking of the Press, he could not help regretting that the names of the King and Queen had been so much bandied about. But who were to be blamed for this P—Not the Press, but the Ministers, who had done all they could to lower the dignity of royalty in the estimation of the people, forgetting that they could not attempt to-degrade the daughter and sister of a hero, and the cousin and wife of the King, with out degrading the King himself. Ile trusted the voice of the people would be so raised throughout the country, as to compel Ministers to put a top tp the odious inquiry into the conduct of the Queen, that the names of King and Queen might once more become respectable and respected in the country, and such unconstitutional proceedings, as Bills of Pains and Penalties, be no more heard of. He con cluded by declaring that he should have the greatest Iplensure in presenting the Petition to the House of rAmmons, and that he felt it to be his duty, as strongly as it was his inclination, to give it all the sup. port in his power. Major ASTLEY (the other County Member) said, that after the eloquent speech they had just heard, he felt it unnecessary to occupy any portion of their time. In declaring his readiness to present the Petition in concert with his colleague, he hoped he should be ex cused for not passing any opinion upon it. He could assure them, that upon that, and all other occasions, his conduct would be strictly regulated by the adop tion of those measures, which he conceived to be most beneficial to the country at large. Mr. GORDON, M. P. arraigned the whole proceed ings of Ministers towards the Queen as arising out of a foul conspiracy, got up by means alike hateful to (ion and man— (Cheers).—He was sorry that the cir cumstance of a woman being the object of so much persecution, did not shame, at least into neutrality, some of the Dignitaries of the Law and the Church. The persecutors of the Queen forgot what might be accomplished by the constancy of Innocence, and the honest integrity of the people—(Cheers)—who, in fighting the Queen's battle, were also fighting their own—(howl cheers).—He also touched upon the topic of Parliamentary Reform, without which he thought there - was no prospect of benefit_ to the country.— The Honourable Member then described the tricks of Ministers to manage, as it was termed, the House of Commons; and described, in so humorous a man ner as to keep the Meeting in a constant roar of laughter, the duties of the Ministerial whipper-in, who had to keep the voters together. Fatal to the pay of the whipper-in was a good hunting week or a Newmarket Meeting; for it was on these occasions alone, and not on any-virtue in the House of Com mons, that occasionally a beneficial measure passed, or a bad one was defeated. It was ludicrous, he said, to see the Ministers silently watching the door of the House of Commons, while the whipper-in was muster ing the votes. On such occasions, the Ministers sat like " timid hawks, that tamely sit, and hear the very whispers curious r --(A laugh). The Hon. Member thee took a rapid glance at the principal personages who attended the late County Meetings, and pointed out their sentiments on the question of Reiorrn.— He particularly dwelt upon the following passage in Eati Grey's speech at Morpeth, as expressive of that statesman's sentiments upon that topic :—" To the principles of Reform, as detailed in the speech I made in 1810, on th e State of the Nation, I still adhere. A change in the system of Government is absolutely necessity to preserve the Constitution from destruction ; and though a Reform in Parliament would be a most powerful means of effecting that change, yet, whether that Reform should be pressed in the first instance, is a consideration which, like every other public question, must be influenced by considerations of State expediency, lest by a too hasty attempt to carry it into execution, the probable success of that Reform itself be endangerech"—To such a declaration, from such a man, he attached great importance ; it was a light in the present dark ened state of the political horizon, from which, he hoped, the People would derive a cheering comfort —(Hear).—He liked it the more, for of late he had rather got jealous with his Whig friends—(Heor).- - He quarrelled with their coalition with the Grenville party, and thought they had got tired of being so long nailed to the north wall of Opposition; that cold, that chilly atmosphere had, however, he hoped, sufficiently braced their nerves against the relaxing atmosphere of courtly interest. He was delighted to find them now coming forward, detecting and ex posing the life and fortune hole and corner men— (Lauglder).—lle repelled the charge-of sedition and blasphemy from the public Press, and said that the only blasphemy and treason of hich he knew was in the impious acts of the Holy .Alliance, and their treason against the people ; for he was one of those whb thought a Sovereign could commit an act of treason against a people, as well as a people against a Sovereign—(Chesrs). Mr. H. HALL JOY, of Hartam Park.. in an able and eloquent speech, enforced arguments similar to those of the last speaker. He contended that there were but two parties at present in the State. In the one were all the adherents of Ministers, and in the other all the spirit and patriotism of the nation— (4pplartae).—Hs ridiculed the Ultra-Loyalists, who, like the proprietors of rotten boroughs, made their' loyalty a marketable commodity. • They now made their piety alike a monopoly—(Laughter). He concluded by moving the Thanks of the Meeting to the Lord Lieutenant of the County, to the Marquesses of Lansdown and Bath, to the Earls of Suffolk and Carnarvon, to Lords Bolingbroke and Holland, and the other Noble and Independent Persons who op posed the Bill of Pains and Penalties. Mr. LOCKE seconded the Resolution. The Marquis of LANSDOWN next came forward. His Lordship was received with the most gratifying marks of respect and public affection. He bowed repeatedly, but some time elapsed before the enthu siastic cheers of the Meeting allowed him to proceed. He said, that he felt it would ill become him to re main silent after the motion which had been just made, and which had been so kindly received by the Meeting—it would ill betaitelim to stand still with out returniogfiis sincere thanks, as well for himself as au individual, as on behalf of his fellow Peers al- laded to isa itesoaittion ; witiv gab wilthiviis was connected by the nearest ties of friendship; and for all of whom be entertained the most sincere re.;. spect. He could not, therefore, but erptess the deep sense he felt of the approbation of the Meeting ; be valued it highly the kindness and respect of his coun try was the best and dearest reward of his public conduct—(Loud applause). There Were persons near him who knew, that he went to the Meeting more de sirous to hear he sentiments of others than to state his own. Yet, perhaps, the Meeting, As he was be: fore them, would allow him to 'state the motives which. induced him to sign the Requisition.— Whatever doubt or hesitation he might have had, whether arising from indolence or from other and better motives, with respect to signing the Requiii don for bringing the County together, all doubts va nished, and indisposition was subdued, Whin he per= ceived the unworthy use which was attempted to be made of what were called Loyal Addresses--(4- plause). He believed that the motives of many per sons who signed those Addresses, were pure and ho nest—but it was not to be concealed that the use which Ministers intended to make of those Loyal Ati= dresses was to infer, before Parliament and elsewhere; • that the very small proportion of the People of Eng= land, who signed them, approved of the proceedings against the Queen (Applause), approved of the Bill of Pains and Penalties (Applause), approved of the con duct of an Administration who wantonly aimed a blow at the liberties and the morals of the People— (Applause). The friends of Ministers might have succeeded, by influence and imposition, to get some names to those Addresses, but never would the Peo ple of England be brought to sanction such me:v. sures, until they should lose all respect for the Con stitution—all veneration for the virtues which their ancestors cherished. It was impossible that a delu sion so gross could exist ; and therefore it was, that he felt it essential to the honour and character of the County of Wilts, that the Freeholders should come forward, in the open day, to speak cut their senti ments, their genuine sentiments, free from all influ ence and from all fear—(Applause). Much as he re spected loyalty, he respected it most in open day.= He knew that good men might, from the-very best motives, occasionally come forward to address the Sovereign, but though he had often heard merit ascribed to those who preserved secrecy in council, secrecy in the conduct and direction of fleets and armies, yet he never heard, until lately, of the merit of secret loyalty--(Laughter and applause).—He wished to hear the opinions of men openly declared, and manfully avowed; the honest expression of public opinion he would always wish to witness ; he would always feel happy to give his assistance to the County on such occasions --(Loud applause).—He could have wished, if there were persons in the County of Wilts who did not concur in the present proceedings, that they had come manfully forward to state their opi nions—(Applause).—He was persuaded that those Gentlemen, though they did not, would yet scorn to imitate the digraceful example set by some neigh= bouring Counties—he alluded to the County of Hants. In that County some persons, amongst whom might be found some of his Majesty's Ministers themselves, had the audacity to send a Requisition to the Sheriff, calling upon him not to allow any persons in the County to express their opinions except themselves: and why ? because, forsooth, they having expressed their opinions, that alone was a sufficient manifesta tion of the opinions of the County at large—(A laugh; and cries of 't Shame r)—They would express their views--they would forward the designs of their party, but they would, at the same time, call upon the Shea riff to seal the lips of the Freeholders--to prevent those who did not think with them from publicly ex pressing their sentiments—(Ap/Anse). Such conduct he hoped was confined to the County of Hants. It was but an act of justice to the Gentlemen of Wilt shire, to say that they were incapable of such mean and unjustifiable—such dark and mysterious proceed ings---(Applause). He trusted - that the present Meet: ing would manifest to the Country, to the King, and to the Parliament, what the real sentiments of the County were respecting the Bill of Pains and Penal ties. He could not, however, indulge the flattering hope, that if they adopted a Loyal Address, though it might be honourable to the Torone, that it would find its way into the London CourtGazette--(A lategh) It was not necessary, perhaps, to inform the Meeting, that amongst the other acts of just and impartial con duct, which distinguished Minister's throughout the proceedings against the Queen, they only inserted in' the Court Gazette such Addresses as favoured them selves and their opinions. The object of the Ministeri was to shut out the light from the country and from the King, and even from themselves . --(Applause).— They wished to conceal the truth, and hy keeping the really independent Addresses out of the Gazette s they vainly hoped that they could be read nowhere else—(Applause).—Their conduct in that respect was' curious and characteristic ; they reminded him of what Naturalists related of a certain animal, thd. ostrich, which, it would seem, though the largest; was not thewisest of birds ; when the wstrich is pur= sued, he runs his head into the sand, and then list thinks that, becaute he can see nothing, nothing can. see him !—(Laughter).—On the immediate question before the Meeting, it would not he necessary for him to say much ; but, whatever might be their opinions respecting her Majesty,. whether she was guilty or in nocent, he (Lord Lansdown) would defy any man to say that her Majesty was treated with anything even like the appearance of justice—(Applause).—Her Majesty suffered under persecution, too, which was inconsistent with itself. They persecuted her Majesty' abroad until she found it impossible, at least until it. became intolerable for her to live there. She then approached the shores of England, and then they dis covered that they could not allow her to live in Ent land. They then offered her out of the public money sum off:50,000a year, if she would but cement to go back. This offer, it should never be forgotten 11 People, her Majesty had declined to accept of, hem:l/- she could not accept it without dishonou r—(C, eerx).— Finding that the Queen would not accept of the pub. lic money, the Ministers went another step, and they offered an Address to her Majesty from the two Houses of Parliathent; they offered to take up the . two Houses of Parliament-like speech with an Ad dress to her Majesty; if . she would only acquiesce in' their views, renounce her rights, and go abroad again (Applause). lint the Queen rejected their Addresses, and refused their money; and then they turned round' upon her and said thay would try her—that they