The National Register. — London, England, 1815-06-18 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. "DO WESTMINSTER MEETING. A Meeting was held on Thursday in New Palace Yard, in come q: cute of the rejection by the House of Commons of the late Yeti tom, to consider of another Petition in support of the people's right of petitioning for a redress of grievances, tic. Sir F. Buenurr presided, and having taken the Chair, he ad dressed the Meeting upon the object for which they had been called together. He began by observing, that in consequence of the High Bailiff not having complied with a requisition which was signed by 118 respectable individuals, it had fallen upon him to take upon himself a duty s‘hich would better have become that Gentleman. He did not wish to reflect upon the High Bailiff, with whom, up to that period, they had so much reason to be satisfied ; he was the hest judge of his own conduct; but at the same time it should he understood, that the meeting of the citizens of Westminster did not depend upon the decision of the High Bailiff: it was not even necessary that he should preside. In former, and he might say better times, it was not customary to call upon the High Bailiff to preside • in the time of Mr. Fox, he himself always used to preside at the Westminster Meetings; and the only reason why it became a practice to convene those Meetings under the authority of the Iligh Bailiff was out of compliment to the individual who might happen to hold that office. In the present case, indeed, the High Bailiff had disqualified himself, for he confessed that he was not capable of acting upon his own judgment and discretion, and that before he could answer the requisition he must take the opinion of Counsel ; but it was hardly possible to go to a worse source for *deice in all matters of popular rights, than to Gentlemen of the long robe. lie would uow proceed to open shortly the object of the Meeting. When last he had the honour of addressing them, a Petition to the House of Comment; was unanimonsly agreed to by the Meeting, complaing of various grievances, protesting against the new war into which the country was about to be plunged, and asking that redress which was necessary for their security against the notorious corruptions of that assembly who rejected that petition, because not palatable to their false notions of dignity, As the business of this day, therefore, was to assert their right of petitioning, he should only require their attention to the observations of Gentlemen who in tended to speak, and to the Resolutions which they had prepared tor their consideration. Major CARTWRIGHT then came forward and said, that from the delay which had taken place with regard to the Petition that had Leen rejected, it might perhaps be imagined by some that they had shrunk before the rebuke of the House of Commons ' teem a con scious sense of their own impropriety : and lie would therefore ex plain the reasons of that delay. The Petition was rejected on • Ihursday the 25th of May; but the fact could net be known till •the next day (Friday), and on that very day a new Requisition was drawn up. To obtain the signatures of 118 persons, however, was Lot the work of five minutes, and it was not till the Monday follow .sing that he transmitted a copy to the High Bailiff, at his country seat near Colnbrouke, who returned no answer. He was not sorry, however; that it had come to this issue, as it would effectually set - the question at rest, and it would now be demonstrated that a High Bailiff had no power to prevent the citizens of Westminster from sneeting to Petition Parliement ; still less that an impudent and insolent Jack in Office, the High Hailifl's Deputy, should assume to himself the right of dictating the terms of the Requisition. He should not detain them any longer, but conclude with reading the following Resolutions, which it was intended to propose for their approbation : Resolved, I—That a Committee of Thirty-one be appointed, for watching over the political rights and interests of the Citizens of Vestimileter and the Liberties thereof; as well as for convening General Meetings whenever the said Committee may judge it uccesSary. 2. That in addition to Sir Francis' Burdett, Bart. as permanent Chairman, the said Committee consist of the following Gentlemen ewe next column), and that five be a qnornm for business. 3. That the said Committee nominate persons to fill np vacancies as they may occur, so that the number of Thirty-one may be kept up, but that the persons so nominated be subject to the approbation of the next General Meeting ; amid that they elect a Treasmer for receiving Subscriptions towar ds defraying the necessary expences. 4 That a new election of the Committee shall take place at the iiext General Meeting after the expiration °lone year: 5. 'that the late petitioning experience of the people of Great Britain and Ireland ought to convince them that the whole force of their, energies onllit, with all possible unanimity, to be concentrated au . retitious of Right, fur the one thing Atedful ) a Constitutional JUNE 18, Representation ; and that to this end, if every Petition to ti►e Commons House for remedy of any wrong whatever, where to state, that the House ought truly to represent thh People, such constant recur►ence to the sultject would, in the opinion of this Meeting greatly accelerate the Reform we seek. 6. That the petition in support of the sacred Right of Petitioning and for promoting a radical Reform in the Co►mnons House of Parliament, which has been read, is adopted, and that the same be presented to the House of Commons by our Representative, Sir F. Burdett, Bart. 7. That our Representative Sir F. Burdett, Bart. is, it possible, doubly endeared to us, by the alacrity with which lie consented to to take the Chair, when delays and difficulties were thrown iu the way of this our constitutional meeting, and fur his dignified conduct therein. Mr. Walker seconded them, and insisted, at some length, upon the sacred right which the people possessed, of petitioning Parli. ament ; observing that the principle was consecrated not only by long practice and the statutes of the realm, but that it had been clenched by that masterpiece of eloquence, which spoke more loudly than all statutes—a Revolution (Applause.) He had yet to learn, also, that the people of England or of Ireland were to creep, fawn and cringe when they approach the House of Commons ; they were egregiously mistaken if they expected such conduct from the people of Westminster, who were determined to demand a fair representa tion in the Commons House of Parliament (Applause). Major Cartwright then came forward and read the Petition. Mr. Hunt seconded it, and said that it did not contain a single line or expression but what he believed spoke the truth ; and them fore it had his decided support. The Electors of Westminster were called upon that day to exercise a right which ought to be dearer to them than their lives ; and if ever that right was denied, there would be an end of all their privileges.e.(Applause) Mr. Hunt then stated what would be the object of the Committe, and proceded to discuss the impolicy of the war, which he contended, was a war against liberty all over the world. Hr. Hunt proposed Sir Francis Burdett u Chairman of the Com• mit tee. Approved of. Sir Francis Burdett then proposed the following Gentlemen as Members of the Committee, viz, Mr. Adam, Mr. Bro , ke . Mr. Butcher, Major Cartwright, Mr. Cleary, Mr. Dale, Mr. Dickenson, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Giles, Mr. Harding, Mr. Harding, jun. Mr. Hunt, Mr. Knight, Mr. Locke, Mr. Long, Mr Mill, Mr. Miller, Mr. Sam Miller', Mr. Morrell Mr. Prince, Mr. Silver, Mr. Sturcb, Mr George Roger, Mr. Turner,Mr. Walker, Mr. Wilsou, Mr. Wishart, and Mr. Alderman Wood, who were severally approved of. Mr. Hunt proposed the thnnks of the Meeting to Sir Francis Burdett, Sir Francis Burdett said, that after the ample manner in which the subject before the Meeting had been discussed, it would neither be necesssry nor fit for him to take up a great deal of their time at the conclusion of the bushics. At the same time he should not think that he did his dot), or slimed a proper respect to the Electors of Westminster, it lie did not advert to some of the leading topics of discussion in his usual manner, speaking as shortly, but as explicitly as he possibly could, those sentiments which he considered it his duty to avow and express. He concurred in opinion with Mr. Hunt respecting the Petition which had been submitted to them—almost every part of that Petition was becoming the dignity of the peo ple of England to offer ; and in his opinion, it was the duty of the House of Commons to receive that Petitifi, and not from any false pride or dignity to wave the consideration of the impm taut topics which it contained. That such, however. would be its reception within the walls of that falsely denominated Hotise of Commons, he was not too sangne in expecting (applause). It was certainly, how ever, far from his expectation that the Petition he bad lately pre sented to that Assembly would have been rejected as it was : and he was even yet unable to conceive the grounds on which it was m jeered. Some general statements were made of the Petition being deficient in.respect ; it contained, it was said, some strong expres sions that the House had robbed the people of their rights • bat these expressions did not appear to Win strong, compared with Ate infamy of the facts which they referred to (applause). A great many things had been stated by Mr. Hunt, of which he firefes•ed he had oo knowledge. At the same time as Mr. Hunt pleoged his life to the truth of what he had stated, it had not failed to affect his mind deep ly, as well as it must have done others. That Gentleman had hit the right nail on the head, when he stated that all the pretences OA forward fur going to war with France were all sham pretences; and that in all the debates in Parliament the real cause of the war had never once been hinted at—the real cause was the apprehension of the Borough. mongering faction which had obtained a domioiou over