The National Register. — London, England, 1812-12-20 00:00:00

7r4 London 'raver-, Th - ,:eiriber 15, 181'2. At a 'Meeting of the C ON% MIT YEE of the Loyal an independent LIVERY Ut Losnotv, Alderman C TOP:!F.O. E`;11. MP. i:i the Chair I?cselvcd--'That t g Address be publi.ll;:d as the unani- Mous and decided opinions of this Committee : The Committee of the Loyal and I niepcielent Livery of London, feel theMselves called upon t.? conoatulate their Yellow Citizens on the result of the late Election fir the Representatives of this Coy in Pal-Hatt:en , ; as it has athrited :riot:ter decisive proof, that the hill on matory proceedings at several C. !moon Halls, were not expressive of the sentiments of the Livery of London ; whose •ood sen , c mani fested on this occasion, has produced the most beneficial conse quences, and the example has been followed with similar success throughout the United Kingdom. Since the Declaration of the 4 th May, IMO, signed by 2170 Loyal and Independent Liverymen, abundant evidence has been exhibited, that, by mislead rig the nvnds of the ignorant, and by inflaming the passions of the desperate, Or‘r's have been made " to subvert the Constitution as by Law established," the chief means for elncting which, has been to decry the frame and construction of the Commons House of Parliament, and ti erchy to expose its authority and Junc tions to the hatred and contempt of the people. It appears to this Coennittee, that by new-modelling the House of Commons, upon any principle dill'erent from that which now exists, (the excellence of' which, as the firm bulwark of civil liberty, has been preyed by . the experience of ages), a risk would be incurred of s haking the British Constitution to its foundation ; and to stir the question upon any scheme of uncertain and untried theory. or with the expectation of future unanimity as to the basis of a new plan, must he pregnant with the greatest danger. To extend the elective franchise without increasirg the qualification of property in the Elec tors, will tend to give the House of Commons an undue democratic preponderance in the scale of the Constitution ; from which, added to the extensive rights it possesses, particularly in the power of with holding the supplies to the Crown, much evil :nay be reasonably ap prehended, frequent, it not constant, collision between it and the other branches of the Legislature must be expected, and eager con flicts with each other wilt arise to the utter stagnation of public busi ness, until one or other must finally triumph in the contest ; when, as the greatest power naturally will rest with that branch which holds the Public Purse, the House of Commons will doubtless succeed, and overturn (as in the lith century) the Crown and the House of Lords. This state of things cannot but ul:imately produce all the miseries attendant on complete Democracies, and probably (as in France) after oceans of blood being spiNed, would end in a ferocious military despotism. Since the signature of the Declaration abovementioncd, a new watch word has sprung uo, and is coupled with the former, PE A C E and Re /Tu'l) constit'utes the Shibboleth of discontent. There are men 'who are ever on the look-wit to mild use the worst passions of the po pulace, by magnifying each reverse and difficulty incident to a state of protracted and complicated warfare The desire for peace• none but the most weak or wicked of mankind can refuse to entertain; but the man of reflection, who loves his country, will first inquire, whe ther peace can be hest attained by prostration at the footstool of the gamy, or by teaching him that we possess the power to assert, and the determination to maintein our independence ; every one who thus considers the subject must conclude, that peace is not desirable if it is to be obtained by imbecile concession, and that national tranquillity cannot be purchased at the expellee of national honour. The public have lately been told, that " we" (the nation)" have a phantom for a King, a degraded A ristocracy, and an oppressed people ;" that " no change of Ministers can be permanently and importantly useful to the country :" that "the fault is not in the infividuals, but IN THE SYSTEM ;" and that " the people with united voice, MUST DEMAND REFORM, IN A LANGUAGE NOT TO BE MISUNDERSTOOD." —\'f hat the import and intent of these mysterious words are, must be left to the interpretation and tfiscernment of an enlightened community ; but this Committee, holding such langUage and such doctrines in abhorrence, consider it to he their uuty to call upon all those who signed the declaration of May, 1810, to concur with them in manifesting by every possible means, the detestation which they then avowed of such opinions ; those who at that time expressed their admiration of " the ph ne.pes of THE FETA' OLUTION, which happily for the religious and civil libert i es of Britons, led to the Establishment of the House of Brunswick on the Throne of these Realms, and who revere the Coieztitution as then confirmed, and as now existing by law," will doubtless join to give efnct to such sen timents ; they accordingly submit to t tie consmeration of !lie resident Liverymen, who by their votes, at the late Election proclaimed t h-sc principles, whether it may net. at the present moment, he hi. lily useful to endeavour to rescue the Corporation of London from the direction of men, who are the avowed supporters of the dara;erous doctrines thus so openly declared ? This, it is apprehended, may be done by theopulent Inhabitants -of this City, taking upon them Cot orate Offices, in conformity with the ancient custom of its merchants, 'om several of whom many illustrious fatuities have descended) ; (fi THE NATIONAL REGISTER_ hut this object may be more immediately accomplislml, h v th e de _ termina!ion of the resident Freemen. in future to elect . per- , :; ,„i known Lorlty and respectability of character to be their Repr: : ., ll : l . the., in the Cuminnn.Council. The Committee a.e fully perAta.',..l that the many violent proceedings of that body have arisen, frtaii the r9H indiln:rence with which the annual EICCtiOnS have Leen ti,,,;, 1 by the rc..)pectable classes of the resident Citizens. They feel, haw. ever, confident, train the success of the late Election, that if the sane exertions are used in these appointments, the ! , rune rest,lts thereby, t;te Corporation of Lr'ndon wOl h, re,torel to th.tr estimaion, which its high rank in the cza auilLnizes it to Resolved unanimeusly—That the Thanks et thil; Committee t.e given to those Gentlemen who were appointed to fran:e the Aerire..;s, for their successful exertions evinced in that now preseutA. CHRISTOPHER SMITH, Ch:tirtn.m. RICIIARD CLARKE, SeC. LITERY OE LONDON. DEC A DMIRJLTY SESSIONS. TM!, OF THE MARQUIS OF SIACM. DEFOIIR SID W. SCOIT, LORD EI.LENBODOUGII, AND MR. lIAV.OR 111011PSON• Wednesday the Court was crowded at an early boor by Noblemen and Gentlemen anxious to hear the proceedings in this case. On the Bench we observed the Duke of Cr..% asNCE, Lord Diq,ART, "101). Dist , : xis Bnows:E, Col. Di Lt.() , Sze. The Noble Dcfmlnt sat amongst the Council, immediately under the Bench. ill:uquis stood indicted for seducing seamen belonging to a shin of war of his Majesty, and taking men un board a pleasure yacht a his own, on the lti!i seas. His Counsel, Mr. DA trs v, submitted to the Court that the De. fondant was desirous of pleading, guilty to some of the counts of the indictment, and not guilty to others. This proposition was rejTeted by the Court, after several observations from the Advocate-General, a reply from Mr. Scarlet, another of the council for the Noble lld'ea• dant, Dr. RonnesoN stated the case. The Defendant is a Nobleman of1, : !1; rank and fortune, and while on his travels, he arrived at AltOt!. He was there introduced to Captain Spranger, of his Majesty's ship t\ - arrite, and Commanding Meer in that part. As he wished to make a age through through the Mediterranean, he there purchased a vessel, t;tf , l'y. lades, in fitting up which he was assisted by Capt.Sprdnger, and fir eot or three weeks, he was conveyed to and from the vessel iii the Warriet's, gig which was manned by picked sailors. It happened during the ti ,'. the repairs were making that two he the:.e men who where of tried tide lily prior to that period were missing.—tt would be seen , t hat the,e two persons and 13 other,, who had deserted from ditiere:.t viescis;a the port of Malta, were on board the Pylades.—lt appeared that en the 12di of May certain seamen belonging to the Nlontamte obL.iii,a leave of absence for twenty-four hours at Malta- —that whle on shore they were plied with liquor by the Defendant's servants, and pat ea hoard his vessel in ft state of intoxication—and, when they tOleoeird) requested to be sent to their ship, it was refused. On the 13th of 11ar the }glades saikd to Palermo, and from thence to Mosina, at Whit which places a sort of restraint was impose d on the En g lish seamen, a. ban centinels being placed over them. In proceeding no the lleaiterr. 1 neon, two Officers of the Active, who had received intelligence of t',e deserters, b.arded and searched Defendant's vessel, but itielfecitee,, as the men were in a place under Defendant's cabin. Defendant veita sailed to Patmos where a number of the seameo wen t on sho,e, h iti: been ittfurmed that the vessel would remain some days, but she sailed the same eyen . .o! , , leaving them behind. Thr .e.... of them were afteivas taken on board by the Defenda nt at Ceo—the remainder wvre " by the British Consul to Sturvint---bad been tried by a Court-M.:l'6j— and from them some of tie witnesses .were selected. Capt. Spranger, of the Warrior , was the first witness called,he rot. rnhorated part of Dr. Rubilison's rant emeot. doril A letter was put in, wt en by Lard Sligo to Capt. Spr an e er, to Constantinople, 10 th of N ov. 1810, nekom%ledging Owl solve la t men were oil board Ids (Defend ant ' s ) ship, hat that th , y g ot oil L'llp .. w ithout his knowledge; but that nevettbeless he adm itted hula' t, m be amenable to the 11111'. William Elden was called : he is a seaman, WAS in the tray` , n e , a i ric ., 13 vears, and at the time mentioned w;i:i on board the M-finvAil .71 Malta, and had a ticket of leave to g' a-shore there en the 1 " , 1 ' 1 , ,,r May, and on the Pith of that month in the morning, he "" u '' :, ,,,, : seaman belongio , to the Montague, four of them in :ill, were u i:., goih , , , , hack to their ship, when thee were accosted by two mc10,. , were in ti very, and another who was dressed Ott , t , w horl acket:llo men *to livery were servants of the Marquis cf Slio , , awl the " th ,` ,8 „,1 the second mate of his Lordship's vessel. se intoxieuted hint, that he knew not how lte..rghte?t ognalbeouhfidnitidie .~.r.~l 1)1 w 1)1 5 1 111 Dr( tl4, to thr an his Jul cli, Ali tic dm oul cal 16 as hi!