The National Register. — London, England, 1821-10-08 00:00:00

RPM SW MEETING IN SOUTH7VARIC. On Friday, in plummre of public notice, and of a notification that the Hight Hon. the Lord Mayor had grunted the requisitionists the use of the Town-hall, in the borough of Southwark, a considerable number of the electors assembled in that Imiklmg between twelve and one o'clock. The object of the mee:itig being to take into consideration such measures as might he deemed most expedient for the purpose of remunerating Sir It. Wilson Mr any pectiniary loss that he may have become liable to, in consequense of his dismissal from his Ma• jesty's service: applicatiou had been made in the first instauce to the /I igli Bailiff to convene and preside at it. Our readers are aware that that gentleman declined to do so, and stated the grounds laixot which he had thonght tit to adopt that course. The Lord Mayor hat ilia sub sequently allowed the electors to assemble in the Town hall, it was nit Friday completely filled by one o'clock, the hour named in the notice. Mr. Alderman %Vood, M.P. accompanied by Mr. Weatherstone and other gentlemen, entered the room amidst the cordial cheeriugs of the company ',resew. Mr. BLACK obseived that, prep tratory to commencing business, it was necessary that they shratid elect a chair man, and he begged to propose Mr. Weatherstone. The motion was si'colided and carried ; and this gen tleman havitig accordingly taken the chair, addressed the meeting : lit calling him to that situation they had called him to a 'most of extreme (11111i:idly. Knowilig who the men in Authority were that they had to deal with, he could not but look maul it more as a post of peril than of ho noor. The ineetitie,, however, having made their call, be should most undoubtedly comply with it, a.t lie did tint wish by any inittece.sary delay to protract the time for which they were likely to he occupied. Ile could h a y e wished inat the r equi toui n whicii was first agreed to, and sent to the I ligh 11 idiff, calling upon him to con vene a meeting, had been complied with; hut unfortu nately it haul been refused. Ii was necessary, however, that tiermission to assemble somewhere, in the proper form, should lw procured ; and application being made to the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor tor the Ilse of the Town-hall, his landship, with his withal condeseensiott, signified his assert. They were met to-clay to consider of Illle propriety of entering into a subscription, which was proposed to he raised, with a view to indlt•tnitife their worthy representative, Sir It. Wilsoo, fur any pecuniary Ins; which he might sustain in consequence of his being recently dismissed from his Alaj,•sty's sets ice. In doing this, he had earm s:ly to beg that they %void(' strictly confine themselves to the letter of the requisition under which they were now assembled, ail(' tint depart (rout it. liad they met under the first requisition addressed to their Hitch Ratliff, it would not have Itc, it necessary to observe the terms quite so strictly; but 11;s refusal had put them to the painful necessity of looking - cloAdy and carefully to the late six acts of Parliament, which had had the effect that was intended; for they had tongue. tied anti shackled meetings like the present. For him self, lie had but very little to say oil the present occasion; but he should leave the sohject to other gentlemen who did intend to deliver their opinions. He would observe before he sat down, that several rom 11111 l ',canons con nected with the matter now before them had been re ceived by himself and other gentlemen, and two of them he should proceed to bring under their notice; one, a letter which lie received front Sir It. %V ikon that morn ing (hear, hear); the other, a comnstinication front Ci rencester, which Mr. Alderman Wood would nuke i known to them. lle sit do w n expressing his readiness to hear any thing which gentlemen might have to say.— (Cheers.) Mr. Antenna!) WOOD felt it to be of very great im portance that he should introduce to the notice of the meeting a letter which he had last night received from Sir H. Wilson—a letter which, when Ili, y had heard, he was sore woad(' render them quite proud in the possession of such a representative as theirs was, (hear, hear) ; and and they would think with him, that it did the writer, considering the circumstances he was now placed in, the highest possible honour. He (Mr. Ald. Wood) hid felt it to be his duty, mein the first suggestion of such a meeting as the presets:, to attend it; and lie was happy to attend one now, :irking out ni the late very extraor dinary dismissal of Sir ltubert Wilson from the service. Attendance he should have considered a duty, even if he hail not received those letters witch had reached him.— lle begged to be understood as appearing there, not as a magistrate, though vested with that capacity, butt as an elector, a voter of Southwark (bear), and occupying a considerable 'miserly in the borough. Ile had, there hire, a right to appe ir on the present occasion, and to exercise (as he 'upped to do as long as he lived) the right of speech.—(('heers.) Ile moreover telt it to be a duty so to appear, simply as a constituent of Sir It. Wilson ; but as a magistrate he had II glut proper to decline the request made to him by several Wends, that be would moue the Festal which were intended presently to be submitted to them. T 11 1 ,51: resolutions, gentlemen would feel, would come with • propriety from others. It was unquestionably the right as well as the duty of constituents, carefully In Wdirh over the conduct of their representatives; and by the result of that day's 'netting, it would b, fur them to prove whether they were satisfied with the COOlifit't of Ills honourable friend Sir Rather' Wilson in Parliament. Liam this point lie dill not nit•an to speak with any pt raonal vanity, our to say ally thing that might se, in intetidecl to 3pplaud Itionselt ; but he did hope that he might be considered as a good wit ness in the Malltr.—(Hear, hear.) It certainly had hap pened, that either from the arrangenteuts he always ad. hered to, or front the good health he was so fortunate to eivoy, or Irmo some oilier circumstances, he (Mr. Ald. ‘V 'toil) was himself most regular in his parliamentary atteialitice, scarcely missing, as he believed he might SAV, an'houar of that Wile which properly was at the <lts pOsal of his own conatinieutr. (Cheer.) This being the case, Ise could speak 111./111 pOSIOVeIy to the good conduct winch had been pursued by Sir Robert Wilson in Par. 11.1511C10, namely, constant attendance there.—(Hear, .. • • • a 1 i L TILE NATIONAL REGISTER hear,) It was impossible for any one to be more unva rying and etciet in this particular, and it was this which made his hon. friend deservedly an object of their es teem. Indeed, whde he continued to use the same exertions that he had done, for all which concerned the good of the borough, it was inumssible the case should be otherwise. But that good conduct was more espe cially sr:parent in the ardour his hon. friend always manifested In support the great principles of constitu tional and religious liberty. No person was better able to advocate those than Sir Robert Wilson; and, in• deed, the admirable way in which he had advocated them had excited the surmise of some among his most particular friends. On these grounds, the'', he (Mr. Alderman Wood) was justified in saying that no man could serve his constituents bitter than their worthy representative. Whatever might hare been the motives of those persons who had advised the Crown to adopt the measure of dismissinlr, hint from its service, he (Mr. Ald. Wood) thought that they would be the very persons, who, on same !inure occasion, would he the most sorry for it. It was such an action, that, he II o lit, one more wicked, more cruel, or more mischievous to the country, was impossible to be done. (Hear.) Ile would not detain tltetn much longer; but he would ob serve, before he sat down, that a h 11011.411 this letter from Sir It. Wilson did hint and his feelings much honour, he could not go along with the writer in the opinion which it expressed. Ilis hon. friend must be the hest judge of the state of his own finances, and his amily ; yet tie could not help thinking that they, who were his constituents, would do well to consider the propriety of pressing his gallant friend to acquiesce in the course which was proposed to he taken. Of the resolutions to be submitted, he mould only say that he (Mr. Alderman Wtxxl) had seen them, and that they met with his entire concurrence; and although his gallant friend had said, "Don't go on with this subscription," he trusted that the electors of Southwark would, and that their conduct would be extensively made known. (Hear.)—The worthy Alderman then handed the letter from Sir IL Wilson to the Chairman, by whom it was read to the meeting. TO 1116; GENTLEMAN APSCIMBILZO AT THE THREE TENS T•VEII R, SOUTH W AUK, SEPT. YII, 1821. " CENTLEMEN,-1 have (hit instant mad the resolutions which H ere passed at the meeting held under your auspices. " 'sures:ad with the most grateful feelings for such a proud memorial of your esteem, 1 still most entreat you to cancel that resolution relative to a pecuniary subscription. " Economy, and arrangements I have no doubt of oinking, St ill Mimi! me ample unroll- to counteract the inc 'costmes 10 StlliCll my family might otherwise he esi,med, by a con. tisicati 111 l of my military income and of the capital vested in the eioninissions. " I have gentlemen, 1 assure you, no fear that your bounty would prove may shackle on that independence of action hich it is more than ever nerersttry• for your interests! should maintain ; but l could ante ithuut un abuse of your gene rous friendship, permit th • purposed sacrifices in my favour. " I remain, gentlemen, a ii h grateful sense of obligat 6 ' Your obedient servant, " Paris, Sept. 30, 1821. " R. T. WILSON." This letter was greeted with loud applause. Mr. Alderman NV our) rose.—lfe was quite sure that the majority of the meeting would go almig with him in the view he took of the great honour it that it rt fleeted upon them to have such a representative.— ( Hear.) Perhaps it was itottotal :ogeihtr the consideration of the money that might be raised in the Borough of Southwark, (although he did not doubt that great libe rality wimld be evinced oil the occasirm), but it was the principle of the subscription which was to be look e d at. TiIC adoption of such a principle would prove to his Min. friend that his constituents were well satisfied with his conduct. (Lour) cheering ) Whether the subset iptiou might be t xtentled furtle..r was another question (hear, hear), and not now to come niukr their attention. They had, however, been told by some, that the subscription iu favour of his hotiouraide friend, in its present state, was not all real. In answer to this, lie (Mr. Alderman Wood) could assure the meeting that he could name at that moment One of the prisons who had given .5001. towards it. (Hear.) It might not be very proper, how eter, for hint to do so; but the meeting might lest satis fied that the subscription was a genuine one. If it was was to go on to a more general and extensive subscription among the fliends of Sir Robert Wilson, still he could not doubt that his hon. frietids constitueuts would conic forward and bear that sort of testimony to his character which they were ever really to do in favour of the friends of liberty. (Hear ) There was another letter which had been put into his hands . but a few minutes since, and which he would prevail upon the Chairman to read, as it might show what was the feeling entertained noon this subject in a ilioatit part of the emintry ; and he had .received several coninumications from other quarters, all tending to show how much o as likely to be done w for warding the ends proposed by the present meeting. The Chairman then read a letter handed to how by the worthy Alderinau " tiIIeSICKSTER, 011.3,18 A. " Si n,—l am regorged by many respertuhle tolaflhitonte of this boromth to r. guest )011 Mttl hu•e the gooduct.s to to angnit to them, throne,la any, any limpet tu., plan, or mm -11011110, Wlll4ll ma) he adopted in consequence of the public meeting to be held tu•uturru* by the inhabitants of the bormitk of auutnn at k. " The itighl3 ineriturinu, and truly magnanimous conduct of Sir It °lwo'. tl ••taints from the inhallitstnis iiiCiren reider that %hu•h 111114 I Cigii in the breasts of all wiled 111111 Milt Rue 11•TIVI'D ur their imintr) ; they Ilieletore beg tii juin tlu•tr contd , men in ming a jurt liihute to in jured virtue, by lib, o g the proposed Nuhvaiiition. I hay.. the honour to Iw, Sir, " Your ruo:i obt•dirri b u mble se rvan t. •• UR:HA/ID HA WKINS." Mr. ItYLAND owed an apology, lie thought, to the meeting tor the circ ttttt stance of so young a man, and one apparently MI insignificant in the borough, coining forward to 'propose these resolutions. (hear, hear.) His hon. friend, the Chairman, had said that his post was one more of peril than of honour. What the peril might be, he (Mr. lt)laud) did not know, wither ~~ _ did he care ; but that it was a post of honour the whole nweting would concur with him in thinking. (Applause.) Sir R. Wilsoo was a child of their own. If be was a member of parliament, they had brought him forward without hiseasking them to do so. They had returned him without his having been put to a single shilli ng expense. They hail elected him to advocate Mei , cause, and the collie of British constitutional freedom. (Hear.) And he (Mr. Ragland) remitted to say, without any fear of contradiction, that the object of their choice hail given them no reason to complain, or to repent of it. The electors of Southwark chose to oppose certain measures of Ministers which they considered injurious to the best interests of their country ; and they sent Sir Robert ll son to oppose them in Parliameot. They chose to sup port the Queen, because they believed her to be insulted and wronged ; and Sir Robert Wilson, not merely out of deference to his constituents, but because such a course was agreable to his own feelings, supported the Queen also.—These, then, were the causes, and the only games, of the dismissal of Sir Robert Wilson. The iiiierence which it remained for the meeting, to draw from these premises was this—that hissnitich as they had beet', prima facie, the cause of their representative's acting in this timelier, it was for them to aVelt from him, as much. as possible any pecuniary 1111 consequences of such a course of proceeding. That being the state of the case, lie (Ale Ryland) thought it was their duty to repay in the manner proposed, that which de faclo they had taken away Inuit Sir Robert Wilson and his family.— He should now merely read the resolutions; alit' leave them to he afterwards separately pin from the chair. Resolved,—That without questioning his Majesty's pre rogative to dismiss officers from his service, we cannot but view with great sorrow the late exercise of it in the pet son of eur respected, honourable, and gallant repre sentative, Sir Robot Wilson; nor can we feel but that the advice given by his Majesty's contidemiel advisers to that effect, was intended more to punish an opposer of their iiiilasUres, and a simpoi ter ef the late ever-nein:- lam. wed Utley!), than for the benefit of the public set vice. Nor can we consider that advice upon any grimed to be just, without an opportunity having been gives fur his defence, tending, as it bas, to deprive Sir Robert Wilson of his con tttt issions, Mr which lie paid 'towards ot 5,0001., and after having rendered the must eminent services to his country for nearly 25 years, during the most eventful period of one history. Resolved,—Tbet in oril-r to send forth the opinions of the electors of Southwark, of the manliness, humanity, and independence of Sir Robert Wilson, and their abbot- Pence of persecution in every shape, it is expedient that a public subscription be immediately entered into, in order to indemnity him for the pe ary loss the late measure is calculated to occasion, anti to prove to the world that his constituesits and the people of England tin (even in these times) protest against arbitrary power, and will support an iejured and high minded Resolved,—That it is highly expedient to invite a public meeting of the independent citizen. of London, and such noblemen and gentlemen of the country as may feel dis posed to attend, as soon as possible, for the purpose of fin-Meting the objects of this meeting. Resolved,—That a committee, Consisting of the follow ing gentlemen, be how appointed, in order to carry the foregoing resolutions into revel, via.— r. Aid. Wood Mr. Townsend I Mr. Block G.Weatherstone Cooper Miller J. G. Ryland Shall A r rowsmith A. Ryland blellersh Jones Geo. Bousfield Plata Whiting Cmo. Pole Sianhuty Masking Thus. Alai Wen Davis Setterley. And that Mr. Rube'. Hall he requested to act as Secrc tiny. Resolved,—'fliat the following banking-houses re ceive subscriptions, viz.—Messrs. Martin and Co. Lain eet ; Messrs. Ledbroke and Co. Bank-buildings; Messrs. Williams ;111 , 1 CO. 81101111 ; Ransom and Co. Pell-mall ; and Sir John Puthurn and Co. Bo rough-bank. . . . . Wesolved,—That the thanks of this meeting be respect fully offered to the Right Hon. the Lord Alayor of the city of London, fur his kindness in granting the permission to the electors o I Smitham k to use the TON n-lia 11, after the High Itailill had refused otkcially to convene or sanction a public meeting. Resolved,—That the thanks of this meeting be given to the Chairman, George Wcathrr,tonc, Esq. fur his able and impartial c luct in the o hair. Resolved,—That the thanks of this meeting be given to the Editors of The Times and oilier independent journals, for their exertions in the same cause. Resolved,—That the thanks of this meeting be given to the Editor of The Traveler, fur his important conmmwica lion this day, and for the patriotic eke' twits made in that journal in behalf of Sir It. Wilson. The first and second roolutions having been carried unanimously, The C H, IRMAN said, he had now the pleasure of coininunicating tvvn other letters which lie had reccivei ; and when he should have read them, lie thoiiglit they uould iit some measure tend to dispel that scepticism n hien ilie government press had affected to entertain relative io the reality of these public subs:riptions. 'nue first was 110111 Mr, Barber Buillllllolll Oxford, Sept. t 9. Sir,—Understanding from the newspapers that the distinguish ed General Sir Hubert Wilson is dismissed the service without a trial, or even tat accuser; and finding thut the public are lancet d log to indemnify that patriotic and ❑uble.iniudal gentleman for Its pecuniary butfisingon the occasion, may I request you to enter my name fur fifty pounds for the purpo. it% I am, Sir, reveettully, Your very obedient servant, J. T. BAUDER BEAUMONT. To George Weatherstone, Esq. Chairman of the Southwark Meeting, &c. (Cheering.) This Mr. Ile:imiont, he had also the plea sure to imorin the meeting, was a magistrate of the county of Middlesex. He would now read another note. with which possibly they would still be more pleased. It was from the Editor of the Trueeller R piper:— " Travaier.offiee, 11, Crane-eineit, Oct. 5. 1821. " Gentlemen-1 have the plcat , ure of announcing to you the iclluwutg hubvcliptiuus *Web have hero forwarded to the tare of the Traveller, in belsalt of the object which you are about to meet to rai ry into acct. 1 beg that they way he auouttuced as coming thiough ' the ►ithtor of ailliwo.