The Statesman. — London, England, 1820-04-19 00:00:00

MAPIi:HESTER. a sioter! Mir;s•opiisl Pipet . Ex *At 1 UP .1 ?1i1y.% LET': KM MIANCIMIITER. v.t r .A:•. IL 16. Th.. io,thense ppulatior 4:: this town :.rid nei4h busul.oud n t ouen:y paticipated in the :at.• to rment sst rebellion, th-agh Hu. 4 .4ertfeld is only 711 miles distant from anchester. The transaitionV which filth pia:, there tr. Wettrestlay last were nut g‘nerally known lo•re until 10Am* :cup on the toiloss inordq. There is t . n. 1.1. er2Sun, tme%,•r. tv ap prehend that the isbucting elutes of this p of the country an toady to rise against t!o• borer:l:tient at at any tittle when they say think rei;elliotis attempts has, been suceessful in other plates. But the ener getie cuniluct of the Magistrates on the 11;t+: of Au wit has alruust oaralized the Radicals of this neigh loerho..d and Lancashire, which, below that time. :,46Ist 1. expected to be tie part of the kingduns is ~:.it!t r..l,eilion WWII." commence, may now be cossi t .red morn tranquil than any u:her of the manid.4l - 01.0 lien. ‘• Its feel completely at e:.se here, knowing that the Magistrates and milit a ry Lee made proper pro. p.aations to resist the Iladica!s, if any insurrectionary Juusrements be tnatir by thefts. The troops slept ander arm for se% era's nights last week. Donbie sentineLs ate a t era) night. I informed you, in my last, that ti... ;:.ew Bailey Lt i erracks had been velttitionally Stew, narks ct defense has.. been rum r.est.r4 at the hint-street Barr.icks, which are in the 4.:•tre of the town. Ti' trowel which arrived here at the vutninencement of the klarno still remain. " A meeting of the princip .1 inhabitants will be it- held to-morrow to d e termin e up on th e most propel . E.Aaaker of the first er!rEr A tion o f his Maj es ty's birth , - ea) ten the 2. 1 . th instant. Prabably at grand invert altan,feerdejoi, dinner, 3nti ball, will be resolved upon; sod, it is to he hoped, that every loyal inhabitant of • t..le• tutrn gill feel it at, imperative duty to s:ep for ward un the occasion, and show the Radirmis that they gm r. ally as contemptibh. in numbers as in nie.ii:s and &Flirty. " A few evenitips since as Meagher, the trumpeter I.* !Le Yeetwanry, was riding past the Exchange, he ~:... attacked by :t few individuals, who commenced ti , ong and buutitur at him, nd shouting • bloody hatcher.' In order to show that he Was nut intinii curve., Meagher returned, and the mob si,eedily in c:•-a.ed so murk that it was usquisite to send to the ps.:i:t-office for teastahles to tlilserse them. On the arrival of the utfii:ers, the crund dispersed ill a vtry s•:,.:rt time.- Iir.IRTER SESSIONS. Aratt. l7.—These Sessions commenced to-ilae.--- Tt,wgli there are many prisin.er, for trial, nothing is b• done of mend public interest. Thu cases are .:•tly petty felonies and misdemeanor*. jbe Magistrates assembled some time before thr ti:Ji rung of the Court ; they had a long eonsultation in their private room. About elterti o'clock the Ma go:rates caner upon the Much. The Growl Jury was sworn, consisting of twenty r.•!pertable gentlemen from hlanehester and the n of st-hum John Hardman, Esq. was Foreman.ti .liter the King's Proclamation against rice end immorality hail been read in an impressive manner by the Clerk of the Peace. the Chairman vcry shortly addressed the Grand Jury to the following effect : " Gentlemen of the Grand Jury.----I ant nut aware of any thing of importance that it will be flares • • fur me to address yon upon, except one subject ; I ut-n•iint it merely that the Magistrates here assent blcd may stand in a proper light. Yon are all aware how much dis , its-ion has taken place upon our mete votes:in August last, and whether we judged properly in deeming the meeting that took place an ille e al one. 'the reecnt trail at York has decided that such meet ings are illegot. hug our opinion t.as been sanetion ed by the highest judicial power of the country. It vas yrekiously sahrtioned by the highest legal autho rity, though it had not been judicially determined to he correct ; and the illegality of such meetings had r.!:o been rein& tautly admitted by isnot of those who are not friendly to us. We hive now, hotvever, the dec:sion of the highest! judicial and legal authorities in our favour. '• I am terry to oh•erve the calendar is at.Taiti a very lieJvy one; but I Observe several ,gentlemen asnotr,-4 you who have Wort sewed on Crawl Jo ries, and I hope you' will use your acett-tomed dili gence.'' The Grand Jury then withdrew, and the Megis tr%;^s took the oath% of alieeiance, &c. to the King. There are 307 prisoner, for trial, besides 72 others, who h.re Leen bailed since committal ; amongst them is James roodward, for assaulting mad throwing stones at the sentry at the Knotmill guard-house, on the night of the 211th March. It is lamentable to state, that the total number cf prisoners in the New Bailey is now 753! 1 hree soldiers of the tst4.tla arc there committed by Colonel Al'Gregor, on the 12. th January, for six months, for trench of the Alleles of War. The state of the public feeling at Paris, respecting the Censorship, was manifested is a marked manner ' on hursdai • flu. Lerturcs on Modern 11:story. At the moment when M. Raoul Itechette, the Professor (one of the Censors), ascended hie chair, cries of 4.-Gas le Cesseefr — resounded from the tipper part of the Saloon, and a considerable disfuesance took place, which was not appeased without some difficulty, although it was not thought ispeilent to call in t:ie aid of force. Ann lieytrey, conch tea at qte Warivicksli:re As shes of the murder of her nsiviresti, was exetuted on Wednesday last, in the &mat of Warwick gaol; after the cap was drawn over tier face, she iris asked, for the last time, the motive which induced her to commit the murder? She ',plied, as she had done several times before in 'W . rems, that she had no motive, bet the hnpressioa ois her mind that she must u n bee. She died perfltty resigned to her fate, and with the sane aisdaasted firmness of cotri:enance that she displayed at her trial. She did not appear to be more than 17 or 18 years of age. -TI IF. STATESMAN. LT. - te itardiency of Paillarientari Reform hating become a CO3:; eratlon'of very eariuna and extertaisd discussion, it was .our object in the !IMMO STATIISII•6I to bare traced the progress of pubic oPialini on this mach mmtested and ; mvme;l:otris pJitt:. Paring the ensaina session of Perils turn% the ..t.etst cannot fail to excite throughout the I cotintry add'•ioral dnd peceliar ir,•rest, from the recent end lanirece&mted citeumitances in whieil it his been I urged to vim,* parts of the kingdorr. and f-..nt the • ntrasures that may be suggested to ternihmte its agliitiun. It is therefore deemed terocolotb!e to euntintle our re ice • of the %rounds matt Asp,. that had been preCously taken la this 1r trAnt astion.l euctrover.y ; sad though some of our rea.!ers may keeolieet the dm: nine number; 01' our reinspect, tLtsy igith, we Host. out regret their rel.:11)5- ettion STATESMAN. in ~..te r t o p reet . r e e a c oo. section whit tite aeries that w1:1 instreciately fullow, and , to reader thihlskir:cal sketch complete.] I TIM PRoußgs.l OF PUBLIC OPINION - ON PARLIVMENTSRY RC,ORM. ~. I. AND 11. In form'sig a proviso and proper opin:on on the sub ject of Paritanientary Reform, it is desirable to be came acquainted with the progress of tlie public 'ea- Unseat respecting it, as welt as the progressive alterations that have taken plate in the constitution of Parliareert itself. 'flu! necessity , of Iteforusatio.:, and the expedience of any specific plan, which may with that view be proposed, are points, indeed, that should I.e determined &it their senarate and proper ntrrits. it is the utility, and not the antiquity of a political institution, that is its principal iecounneiti alien. A large , portion of that demociatic spirit which imparts to our felluis-countrynien their energy anti mental inulepundence, and to cur institutions their activity and excellence, may be traced, with the arrival of the Saxons, from the .o!:ter4 that were de veloped by '1 acitus, anti eq,hlApil hy the institu tions of Alfred. it is needless to inquire farther, or wept, re minutely the constitution of our aaioual as semblies, that were convoked in early ages. Enough is manifest to prove that a real representation of the teuplo, as a constitutional part of the Legislative Body, i., in this kinedi in, twit a mulls* claim, nut Withal: a le,fitionate precedent. So high and so exteti , ive nls the spirit raised by the folly and fatality of the American w.tr, and the nocunititutivnal principles of the Administration of Lord North, that the must celebrated characters and the greatest counties in the kingdom took the lead in the asso.iations that were formed fur restraining the abuses of Guvernmen•, and protivottng a Reform of Parliament. Among the provincial as.ociations formed at this period, that of time count• of York appeared con :picomons wed prominent; headed as it was by their distinguished Representative, Sir George Saville, and composed of a body, which, fur intelligence, public spirit, and general respectability, has seldom Lein surpassed. On preventing their Petition to the House of Commons, Sir George took ocrasiuti to observe, that it was the resolution of a meeting, which, for worth, and weight, and property, rivalled any meeting that took place within the wails of the Mine which he ad d eased. Nutt% iCistanding the democratic br•inch of Psalm ! merit has ::Itrays heen considered Li.; of primary low portanci, mid as the peculiar object ut popular pre ; &retie.. and iolpport, it is worthy of ren:ark, disputes conc , rninie the right of suffrstre were long t.ll lit, Is, and formed an ineonsideralilit stih . ;ctt at rola:.•41 liken...ion in England. Frunt Hen:y 111. to tieurge 111. the grand question depeadt i Ij•.! en th.• (How a!i.i lie people lias continued to be. •xl,et her t C. , ernmeent should be Parliao ment.iry, or adtiiiiiisteicil a. c•odine to the judgmeld of one or mote individcals, not atitenable to justice. and ofte% tv't answerably LaJo public opinion for their 'counsels and measures. 'I his 4:tication is, in whet words, it hether otitiptitur tt :'s of oar Com stitution---.• a, Republic disguised AS 31onarchy," be a just dc.:cription, and whether our Constitution is to l br administered un the principles popular tiveern nieut, ,or according to the maxims of uneunicuttleg Monarchy. Seditious, as Mr. Pitt, in subsequi tit times, was fain to reckon aNsociatiuns fur Parliamentary Reform, and especially the ineetinga of delegates from such associa tions, they were then counters eiced and constituted by the most diiitlisguirlied patriots of the day, and Mr. Pitt himself was A delegate at the Meeting at the Thatched House Tavern, composed of delega'es from ••those associations fur promoting a Reform in Parlia ment. From that tneetine emanated the plan of Par liamentary Returns, approved by Mr. Fox, aulpro in &dimmest by tar. tat. The object of this ribernrre was to annihilate the decayed and corrupted . boroughs of the kingdom, to allow Representatives to unrepres?nted towns, which in modern times have be co i.e populous and important in the scale of Govern nrtit, and to increase the number of the Mambas several of the counties. This object was proposed in Parliament by Mr. Pitt, at different times and in dif ferent forms, and rejected but bY small niajorieLs. gidaeral object was, at that period, iuuch more po pular among high politi..il men than at any time sub sequent or antecedent ; but then, as well as now, the Whig Party were divided on .his important question ; though they all agreed that the Government ought to be Parliamentary, and that Parliament ought to be, in its feelings and principles, popular. They had all concurred, in the famous resolution of Mr. Dunning, in I7SO, " That the influence of the Crown has in creased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished." The interest and charges on the National Debt, have, since the period of that resolution, been multi plied fourfild. 'the nava!, c.,ionial, and fis cal ntahlillituents have been augmented beyond ally fanner example. Whether these augmentations are to be regarded as proofs of the subserviency of Peale met., or only as sources of new influence to the Cron it, it equally follows, that the principle of Mr. Dunning's resolutions is inure strongly applicable to the present state of the kingdont, thir. it was to that which sub :AAA forty ' , errs ago. This qiu.stion arose in the most atotioun theme ei our tiovernment. It WAS agitated for agas-411400. extrevAgitnt duatrinei tvere advanced; - wcieti:lloll4la-Q . under t,:e Holm of Swim relative to Divine Right, P.l%sive Obvilietice, and IndeCasible Inheritance. it forms the indelible thitiuction between Whirl ifid 'Rorie-, and must continue to keep up similar patties as lung a the British Cunstitution exists. In the course of t hi: contest, the power of Ow purse wits the only pacific means by which the House of Cum ' moms cuuld establish or their authority as law givers, and their weight as Cuunbellers of the Crown; and hence it has arisen that almost all our great dis putes have immediately turned upon questions of pecuniary supply. On this ground all the battles of liberty have been fought, from the grant of the Great Charter to the declaration of .tuierican Inde pendence. It was not till after the victory of the Parliament user Charles the First, that symptoms of dissatistac tiou with t!!e Colmtittititai ut the 11. use of eUOIIIIOII3 began to inanife,d themselves. Complaints of the state of the representation, and projecfs for its amend meta, were then employed by the agitators of the Parliamentary army, as a means of depriving the House of Common?, of the popularity which was its' alight security again .he military busty. It was on the 20th January, 1649, a few clays b fore the death of the King, that the first plan of Parliamentary Re form was laid before the House of Commons, by some officers of the army, under the alluring title of " An Agreement of the People." It was composed by Ge neral Ireton, a memorable person of eminent capacity fur civil es well as military affairs, and who did not declare for a re,mbiic until he was persuaded that Ci!arles had no intention but to regain by art what he had lust in fight. In this paper it was propotgd, that the Commonwealth should be governed bytes. presentative assembly of four hundred persons, tri enially electe4l by all housekeepers assessed to the • poor—not being servants or receiving wages. The smaller boroughs (with some capricious exceptions) Were to be thrown into the eountii s. 1 he cities and more considerable towns, together with the unrepre sented towns of Alanchester and Leeds, were to have separate representatives. This was the first plan of Moderate Reform ; and it was speedily succeeded by one I f a dillerent.de scririou. On the Ist of ,Sty, 1649, the Levellers, as they were called, published, but did out present to Parliament, (bur scheme of Parliamentary Reform, by which, " all turn of the age of twenty-one years,l nut receiving alms or being servants, were, ctecorefiNg to matttral sight, to have a voice in the election of Members of a Parliament to be annually chosen." This I project, however, was disregarded ; and the print ple of Ireton' s plan was adopted by Cromwell's Parlia ment, in 1654, but modified by the admission of the former boroughs, and of the unrepresented town of Halifsx. The Parliaments were to be triennial: every man who bad a real or pers:nal estate of 20e1. i was to rote in counties, in addition to the forty shit , lin , z ; and the ancieta rights were pre served in cities and towns. ~His aeeond Pad /orient was elected aczording to thrta i Natints, which they slid not alter. It is remarkable, thin • y succeeding . . That the House of Commons has become less popu lar and more subservient to the Crown than the great principles of the Constitution requirc, is indeed a pro po ition, about which there can be little difference of opinion among the ardent and zealous friends of Li. berty. Agreed, however, as the Whip were, respect , lig the nature, extent, and danger of the distemper, they differed about the efficacy and safety of the reute dlr.. Many of them, persuaded that nothing could counteract the influence of the Crown, but a }Rinse of Commons formed on a wider bash., contended for shorter Parliaments and more popular elections. Others, of equal hotte.ty and judgment, were of opi nion, that short Parliaments 'i,iuld rather increase than diminish the influence of the Crown ; and that every change in the modes of elections, It ould prove either in.ignincant ur dangerous. Among the plans which had been procosed to ex tend the elective franchise, and to render popular elec tion consistent with the public quiet, were two, w hich f6r several reasons are entitled to attention, in a Re view of the P.ogres. of Public Opinion on Parliamen tary Reform. The one is that of Mr. Hume, in which the freeholders 'and inhabitants assessed to the pet*, elect tlroge who are to name the members of the Su preme Council, and which was, in fact, *adopted in another form in France, where , a popular body would propose candidates, from whom a small number of the most considerable proprietors would elect the Repre sentatives. Ihe c,thcr is the singular plan of Mr. Horne t ooke, which proposed to give the right of rot ,Mg to all persons rated to the land-tax or parish rates zit 41. 21s. per annum, on condition of their paying to the public 21.25. at the time of voting; but providing, 'that if the number of voters in any district fell short of 4404/U, every man rated at VA. per annum solglit give SeJtala*llkltil Sl.e isnligain plt ilg . t A, k am thnse subordiusite elecna • .I Lave little uccupied the attention of the great puliti- I, malting the saute rovision, in CASe of.the sane tit;ltee years of agitation and change, this sublect cal writers who at that time fl ourished ; and that, : far third, fourth, fifth, &c. votes for every a,tai d ,„ . '. notwithstanding the suercstio.ks which Milton, Har- , HMI. at which the voter is rated, till the nag, and Sydney, had previously given, it should ; 44/1.14.: votes fur the district should he co mpi ete i ' To the plan of Mr. Hume, as well al to that a•letted be ringt alru tm u . st unnoticed at the period of the Revolution. 1 After that glorious triumph, indeed, th e public :tea- 'in France, there is doll insuperable objecti on 0,, 1: .. lonely, fornaerlv groat reason, to be turreted to the subserviency confined to prerogative, began, with I l eave , to the peov i e way "f 1 which can tee ire no interest in their minis, sal a hi t , Parliament ; but during the fifty years which ful- would cousetiutoitly fail in attaining one of th- -e; lowed, the eune , lients pro:used fur the reduction of e l po i object% of popular elections. All seise:n es ' , a , the growine influence of the Crown were c u r dy an separring the prJpesition of candidates f ie ---1, 1 - . abridgement of the duration of Parliaments, or the ex- ot h e (rout t h, ch ,, tee of th ,, oi.:er,, become t r alti ,, elusion of all, or of some, placenieu from the House 3 power of noirinazion in the proposers. f t i s e4 , t4 1 of Commons. f leave no cletic:.? to the eleetors. by coupling tae avavret The dispute with America about the connexion of candidate.; with none btat such -es are absolatelv inch. Tim Taxation and Representation, gave a nets importance ge , l et tote o bje ct i s c 0.., ton to theu to these topics, and for tht: first time rendered them an] to that of Mr. Horne Tee Le. They 311 i a the suhiect of public discussion. Lord Chatham's subjective. ele..tiotts to tin- joint inducts-ea pr iberty Curious Apeirch in 1770. which proposed ..• tu infuse a and population ; in that of Mr. Too!.e the ,;( new portion of health into the 6.mA:to on," by .an wealth is augnitinted wider ;Ite preten.e of beano • wing addition to County Members, was the test stie.jestion suffrage .lutost universaliy. of a specific Return , rn:nle ty a British state:wan in a This pLt of Mr. Home Tooke i.: las . e et Glace of authority. Towards the end of tae American tit d notie.• from the popular CJIII urrenee it obtained. Sa m war, the Government became generally unpopular, from the ingenuity w it which it was reasstaeade ' and its discredit was j,astly snared by a compliant J. , "it is said, '• observel the able and ace Parliament. The Waite 41 blood and treasure ; tee his letter to Lord AelAurton, " that L .1 prap,ser. iu disgraee of our aims : tl.e debility and distraction of tat tee all vf tea t taaa is as dear to hint as the all of ameher loth iglu oa' our councils, were generally, and not without reason, other. Bet, my Lord, this alleles still no*. ladd . le; imputed to the restoration of Toryism, an d . the un any means, for a snisll all is nut, for wry g„..1 r , iss ,, , * einuttitu::unal principles which had prevailed from so dear as a great all. A small all ma: be lust anti the be6ttniotz of the reign. Asco:iations for re easily reini , ted: it Way very often, ate! rith r a t trenehment and ei•onomical Reform were adopted in wi.doni, be ri.fine-I tor the of tir a on.r..s.rt it nu, the priucipal cuunties of Litgland ; and uu :hens, in , be so small, as obe little, or not at a n eni. h de/sno w:any places, acre grafted associations fur Pada ing or caring for. But a large all can terer Le re-o m:•ntarr Reform. vered. It has been amassin r awl avniusultting, per. haps, front fa her to sun, for mow Revert:..as; in it has been the product of a long life of intlyn.c ail . A . lents ; or the consequence of souse ein:unts ance *St ii will never return. Bat 1 ant sure I need nut dad upon this. lVithout placing the extremes of forne.e in array against eanh other, etery lean whos• all b/8 varlad at different periods of his life, can speak to himself, and say, whether the tleartos in ithiLh it held these different ails was equal. The low e st ord.- of men consume their all a il .), as fast 40 1101 :lune it. ply Lord, lattice and policy require besr.it and bnrhen, that the share of power, smile skin of ~ontribution to that power, should be as antic rope. fumed as possible. If aristoerAcy will hare poor, they are tyrants, and UtliitAt It) t i tle pc.11.1 ibetiLit arit:ocracy alone does nut bear the r hole Isrtheu. the smallest individual of the people vont, Os :a Le equal in power to the greatest individusl, he too is. 1.: his turn, nujust in his dent.iods ; fur his burit:a contribution are not equal. " Hitherto, my Lord, I hive only aqui attains! the equoiitg: 1 shall now %entire w spnb s t air: the nnit•crraliiy of representation, or of a share in the Government ; for the terms arnoun! to the same. Free• dow and security ought surely to be equal and univer sal. Nu t my Lord, lam not .tt all lac . lsrsta to ton. tend, that some of the rnember•s of meaty na►y befit: and •relre, without having a share in tie Gesermer. Mfr Lord,, extreme Weer!, extreme &podium► ti tre's.. ignorance, extreme selfishness (I mean 11,:s -taken selfishness which excludes all public scan), al these are proper cases of exclusion from' Ant is tie Government, as well as extreme rtimiaalith Irkia is admitted to exclude ; fur thither they all-trad, sal there they frequently finish." ('I'D be continua.) • M DUE. • Ilublln U Waterford I Guernir) and Jrney • tionenlmingh Ihrothuncli ii.S. lAnn. are. 0 Holland 0 Flanders I 0 nine, 0 Lisbon , 4) Malta D.% V AT ONE !wilt Stock Ditto Bonds Cc 245. pm. Uhl Amenities Fa. Bills. Ditto COM. thonitoo Con. for Ae. TO COI 701 Lott. Tickets Of NJs HIGH WATER AT Id►XI)ON-RRIDUE THIS DAV. horning, 40 min. aftor 3.—. Afternoon, 13 man. after 6. c ,s:tatt6matt. 71111 STVICIW t• IS INCOIII ()BAILS "TIM !;1.:71:i•AIAN. •• LONDON: WEDNE,DAT EVENING, ♦PRIL 19, 1999. We have this morning received IGth. 'I hey contain no inteligence lhatuber of Deputits n ere again Financial gnestion.---The news front The Funds, after Kt n r little yesterday, ut 701 fur the Account, buyers at 70i. This morning they have declined to 693.. sellers, which price. This depresmon is occasioned ove4-bought themselves for the ds of the Galas diming their accounts. the sang. Exchequer Bilk, 71. Bettis, 3135. The public attention, lately divided of points, is now cuncenteeed into important trial.; carrying on in ' the nature of etidence produced theie trial• ae :re not allowed Judge haying declared that ►e sistent With the ends of justice, tial publication of the proceedings should before the ts:niination of the whole. we object t.; :he PRIL 17, sow. ed Paris Papen of the .once of interest. Ihs in occupied with the irons Spaiu is scoff e fluctuation, left ant, after liar* bra vey °mold at 76i, Lich is now aloe * Hosea by their Italia/ diy, and likwirise vase its. Mosey asthma premien; antis& divided of I nsaltiteir into one faits by* n the metropolis. ssduced oa the frugal owed to sFeak; considersi it beer • stlce, that aff for atrs Avoid take ply! • Neither 1 1 ; 11 themesfoal r *Bs • - PRICE OF STOCKS Till: Rank Rtoot 2411 3 per Cent. nett (19. 1 . ft: 3 per CI. CI um. 70 t 70 tAll 31 per Cent. 7877/ 4 per Cent+. 874 k prr Ct. Nnty Rig I Lung Ann. IS 1-16 IS Imp. 3 ;vim Cent. Ann. ON • ti " • .••• AAA` , . ~~ p'r~ t"la ~.