The Statesman. — London, England, 1810-05-22 00:00:00

~, . ~ t • .‘ lam convinced, that these individuals were not present at the time. [ 4 They tears sot,' ex. claimed many]. Gentlemen, I am well pa:- waded that nothing can benefit the cause of trutlf, so much as hearing the arguments of those who oppose it—for that reason I have, upon every oc casion, endeavoured to obtain a fair hearing for those Gentlemen who hair been disposed to ad. dress you ; and my anxiety to have those Gentle mea fairly and properly heard out, has subjected me to the animadversion of one of our Represen. tativcs in Parliament. Ile has accused me of pre sumption in soliciting your attention, merely on • account of the favourable indulgence you have been pleased to grant me. Gentlemen" so much has been said, so much has been written, in sup. pert of the law of the land, in opposition to the soulefined privileges and arbitrary discretion of one of the branches of the Legislature, that it would be presumptuous in me to suppose that I could add any thing new, or of more force, than what has already been urged—therefore I will not at all detain you, by using any arguments on that paint. You know perfectly well, that the viola-, tion of the assumed privileges of the Commons ' , or what they conceive to be a violation of the law;' has arisen out of tho corruption of the State.- '- Yon know that the recent exercise of this priel. lege was founded upon the wish to keep the Feb.: plc of this Country as much its the dark as postsi. ble, and to prevent the public from witnessing .their proceedings relative to a transaction the most disgraceful that ever afflicted this, or any other passion [Greet applause]. If, tharefore, Gentle. menythe galleries of the (louse of Commons were torbe left epee, only to gratify the vanity of the Members, by giving their speeches, upon ordinary occasions, to the public—if time People were to be excluded from being present at the debates in the (louse of ( ominous sown all great occasions and iMportant inquiries—if a stop is put to the ail. niadversions of enlightened men, respecting the conduct of Government, the People would here. sifter be effectually shut out,. and excluded from the knowledge of any inquiry in Parliament, in stituted with a view, either of correcting abuses, or of punishing the authors of them. It is cer tainly, Geetlemen, not surprising, that in a fiery large Assembly as this is, in which there are men, feeling very strong, with regard to public measeres—it is not surprising, I say, that they should sutler their feelings so far to get the 'better of their judgment as to urge them not to give a partial hearing to thee. whose sentiments. they are not likely to approve of; but I beg that upon this day if any individual shall come forward to deliver his sentimeuts, you will attentively Hs. ten to him ; [" we teal, we will," said many] but if they should come here and bestow upon you those foul epithets with which you have lately• been insulted.—if they tell you you are ass assent. bly of thieves, assassins, and pickpockets—if they should address you in that way, I ant sure you will not give them a hearing. But, Gentlemen ' ', they have thought proper to apply to our pro. ertedings harsh and illiberal epithets ; to adopt , false and injurious; cotsclusious against the great body of the Livery, merely because you base not given to every individual a fair hearing. Now I 'wish these Gentlemen to ho tried by their own words ; for if they cwne forwatd here amid ob tain a fair hearing, you woul.l naturally expect that at their meetings they would give.to others a similar indulgence. [", To be sure they ought, bat they do net do to," exclaimed numbers of the Livery.] Now iu the first place, upon their own Declaratims they have stated, " that they cannot remain tranquil au.' passive spectators of those mischievous endeavours which, hawing failed in traducing the character of the Sovereign, aro uow directed to the production of contempt and dis. trust of that important branch of the Legislative Body, the (louse of Commons." Gentlemen, ou the day when this declaration was made, by those who have had the presumption to call themselves the Livery of London, I had a letter put into my hand, inviting me, as a Liveryman, to attend at the London Tavern, and to bring with mess many of my frienda as I could. Gentlemen, upon such a pressing invitation I could net think myself jus. Ord in remaining absent ; I accordingly went there, and there I found a worthy Gentleman ' learned in the law, and another sagacious orator who stands now me; [a general groan—' s Oh Dixon! Oh Dixon!"] there were they holding forth ; they had . Every thing their own way, and, 'Without going over their able speeches, which I am not competent to do justice to, I will only atate, that the whole gist of their observations amounted to this _ —that the Livery were then assembled in a place Inhere' every one could be fairly heard, and not in a noisy Common [loll, Where so loan could speak,. whose seutiments diet net earsesposua with those to whoo he wished to address himself.-- " Gentlemen," said the worthy orator near me, E" Uh Ova t" again resounded through the " they pretend to find fault .with .bis Ma e , jesty'a Ministers, but I am certain they mean to overturnola Sovereign." [Some few hisses at the lower end of the flag.], Gentlemen may hiss if they please ; they coMplao that we will not hear ahem, yet they chew ' , us that if they had the power, they • woild P i ot. hear us at this . momeul. [bursts of applause.] These orators would iufbr, that whets we are finding fault with. the abuses and Corruptions in the House of Comment, we wish to overthrow the House of Commons. I will go the length s of asserting, that, in every Censmon Hall at which I have been present, when Gentlemen' have fairly attempted to reason against the popular feeling, they have uniformly beets heard with at tention. I remember two Getsilemen particularly, With regard to whom, .tlsough you must have dis approved of their sentiments, you nevertheless ;ranted them a patient hearing—l mean Mr. Lush. angtun and Mr. Rowcroft: Yuu did so because they were men of sense ; and though their argu. meats were not approved of, you heard them. But if men will come forward and tell you that you want to overturn the Sovereign ; that you are. endeavouring to destroy the Constitution—if they will consign to reprOach and infamy the great body of the people—if they will assign motives to your Resolutions, Addresses, and Petitiesss that are not to be found in them, they cannot bud fault that . i ' they are not beard ; for no clarations in any house or Loudon would he suffered if they were to come for h ere described, still I won will, we will.") It hely ry at this liberal meeting, man could be heard with such attention, that - any person offered a word in opposition to the . sentiment of these orators, they opened upon Mail like a pack of bounds. (shouts of applause and, laughter.) Though they and their friends were a small minority, yet they were sufficient to provost a single word from being heard. Why, Gentle. I men, what think you, they even wanted the decla ration to be passed without putting it to the vote 1 1 (0! scandalous! these are your limo and fortune men) ; amid in addition to this, the "Chairman, fur fear it should be rejected, refried to put the question when it wait moved (vehement in. dignation 44 a pretty Chairman truly. .")—Seelig . Gentlemen, have been their practices.—l ask them whether they would have allowed any man who opposed them a fair hearing. at Mgr. chant Tailors' Hall ? A worthy friend of. mine narrowly escaped with his life, only fur . attiiimpt::, ing to deliver his opinion in .that assembly. I ask them what was done at the Meeting at Gro.. cot's Ilall ?- I remember very well that we ad. juurued to the yard. I stood upon a place some. thing like this, and if they could have thrown me down, they would have dune so ; they made la attempt on my life, or at least to do me some be. silly itijirry.—[" Infamous," exclaimed several.] They have elucidated their 'conduct on a recent occasiinr; hut I . hope we shall not follow their ex ample. It is stated by them that our. object .is to subvert the Constitution, and they-have charged us wills inflaming - the minds of the' ignorant. They must mean to apply that term to you, but do nut think the Livery of London can ever with truth be so designated, or that they are so destitute of good sense as either to be misled, or to have the* passions iuftamod. They may, they do, and they ought to feel warmly upon questions which in. 'wive their dearest rights and privileges, and they must cease to be Englishmen, when they refrain to express their feelings. With respect to their Counter. Declaration, although they have imputed to ut all manner of bad motives, and although they have proclaimed that we numn to destroy the Constitution, yet they have not deviled a single thing which we have asserted. They could not do so in their Countes-Declaration, because it antici.. paled our Meeting, and was drawn up the day be. fore the Common Hall. Our Decimation and Pe. titian stand upon a rock ; no parts of them have been disproved ; they are all indisputable facie. The only charge they have beau Able to allege against our Petition is, that it affected to Lord Castlereagh's. having been guilty of the crime of bartering his influence ac a public Minister fur a seat in Parliament ;..that it wattled the notorious' fact, that many thousands of our • fellow.country. men had beets ingloriosody destroyed at Walche. tee, and that the guilty 'persons who had been the authors of that calamitoul Expedition, had escap. tel with impunity ; yet for merely . asserting this, we are told our object is to destroy the .Constitu. tion.. lam far from imputing improper motives to any man. lam acquainted with a great num ber of those who signed the Counter-Declara. lion. I believe many of them are persons, who have been alarmed by the representations which have been made to them. 1 believe there 'arc many of them who have been misled, and pre. railed upon to' sign the ConoterDeclaration against the conviction of their better understand.: ing. I know that every place has been canvassed fur signatures, even the chu rch-duors.—['' Shame• ful,impious."]-1 know that the Chairman of the Meeting canvassed fur signatures at the church. door himself.—[ Excessive indignation.] —1 know further that he got people•to suffer him to sign for them by proxy.--,[lt is hardly possible to convey an idea of thefeeling of thc Livery at this disclosure. The Orator was cheered for.severalminutes, the whole of the Livery shouting, and waving their hats in the air.] Gentlemen, I am glad that what I have stated seems to be felt,by you so fur. cibly. few murmurs from Dixon's Party, who were concealed from view upon thellusiings.] I will allow these Gentlemen to grumble, it is all they can do when they are se . stirelvoressed. I ern stating nothing but facts.. ["' Gan you prove them?" said many.] 1 can prove themidentlemen, and I am ready to prove then; bet I.sta sore the worthy Gentlemen to whom I haeo alleded-knows • me too well to venture to put me to .the prod, of the fact I have stated. [Loud applause .] Gentle • men, these persons profess great loyalty, hut it is extraordinary to me that when there are such num. hers, ar.h7 say t +ere are, seeking. to dattroy . tlik State, tech lights breaking:inopou these teenier. Deviant ionists, that they cannot find onedecent man to come forward as a Nads of there. In thetiounty of Middlesex yet; find a man taking the lead, who puts annually five hundred pounds into hirpoelset ' of the public money. Who is it that come , for. ward to protect the Constitution which the Livery of 'Lendon- are seeking to destroy ?- Mr. Chairman Reeves, Who pats the pasha money in his pocket—the same Mr. Reeves wk.+ libelled the House of Commons, by • saying that. the No, narehy was a tree, and the Commons and Lords branches, which might be lopped off without any injury to the tree. [" Drone! bravo !"] When I have seen these mations by such individuals, I have always thought that there was something at the bottom Which infloeneed their conduct, and there has never been an occasion in which they halls come forward but 'I Imo always discovered something of the kind. If ,you look at all . these Counter-Meetings, you wit! find that they are composed of . men who are notorioutplace-hunters,. and 'who have derived or expect to derive some emolument or advantage from the public purse. Now let us consider who is the individual at• the top of these Counter-Declaratiouists, I mean Mr. Jacob, the advocate for the purity of Parliament. Now, how do you Shin* this pure Member of the, House of Commons has attained his scat in that, pure Assembly ? Why, he is' retarget! by nine voters, who are induced to vqte foe. him by the! influence of his Notion at Rye s a&, I believe, I - [Noes., plaudits.] within three 4 four 'id ibe telt of ter.Declittationbill, '1 filed a Consesissioner of the Property Tax-1 4111 net be said that he is not one. wheriniti-the public money in his pocket. I find alio a Sleek to the Commissioner of the property tax, and after hints list of COMM.: ter-Deelarationists ter gatherers without number. [Reiterated bursts of applaitse.] Gentlemen, it has been thought proper by those who have pre pared these Resolutions, in order to shew the ua. ture of the delusion which has been practised upon you, to embody in the Resolutions some ex.. treordinary historicallfacts--facts to which I drew your attention upon a former occasion,wherrl made a comparison between the reign of Charles 11. and the present time. At that period the House of Com mots expelled one of their menbers, for advising his Majesty to reject the petition of his subjects. 'The House of Commons petitioned his Majesty to dismiss this manlier from his counsels, and they also expelled him from the House of Communed — this very man was afterwards created a Judge. In these days he was rewarded .in something the same way in which Mr. Yorke leas been rewarded in our times. The House. of Commons reprobated the conduct of these Abhorrers as they were called, fur representing to the King, in order to check potitiouen who had petitioned for redress of grievances, that such petitions were tumultuous proceedings, and they voted that such evil cone. sellers were guilty of a high crime. We do not .find the House of Commoin of the present day reefing upon the same principle ; on the contrary, we find nut only our petition rejected, but when Mr. Alderman Combe moved to censure those who had-rejected it, the House of Commons refused to Inquire into tho - nature of the business, or to pass any vote of censure. There cannot remain a doubt that so far from imputing guilt to those who have rejected our petition, these hired leaders of the Counter-Declaralionists, these individuals who are putting the public money in their pockets, are seeking to perpetuate abuses tinder which they live and grow fat. Let us, however, Gentlemen, not be deluded by such talk, for be assured cor ruption can never be necessary. to a good govern.. tent. It is in vain for any man or set of men to . 'tell us that the sale of seats in Parliament is nee's. Silty to Nye support or good government. In vain Mill they, toll us that it is necessary for good go. Sernment that Cornwall should send forty.four 'members to Parliament to assist Ministers in taxing the whole country. Those. men are the roiliest of all libellers who tell us in such language that the government is of so weak a frame, of so tender and fragile rt Wiltshire that it will fall by its own pouderancy if it is not propped up by corruption, end if corruption does not keep it going. I deny that corruption minim necessary to a good govern. meet. Hear what Lord Camden says—he declares 41 that taxation without representation is ty. twiny." ("Bravo ! Bravo 1":1 Now I ask you what sort of a representation have we got, in the representation of such men as Mr. Yorke and Mr. Jacob? Whet can- you think of the state of your representation ohen all those who are Free. mon, but are not Liverymen, have On vote? Though they may tell those men that they are pickpockets and desperadoes, yet they take care to squeeze all the taxes out of them they can. Nu men have) written more strongly upon this subject than Mr.' Burke ,Lord Chatham, . Mr. .Locke, and the great fiord Somers • but without referring to *hat these celebrated characters have said ur written, we need only look to the.arguMents of that true patriot who has sacrificed his. personal friendships by standing up for the domipion ofthe law against; tyranny and undefined privilege ; it is unnecessary to say that allude to Lord Erskine. [Vehement' bursts of applause.] Never let it be said thit we join in indiecriminate abuse of great public characters when we have such met as Lord En., line, Sir Samuel Remaly,* and Mr. Whitbread to lock to. I shall now call your attention to a. vry . important thing ; I shall show you that fur our proceedings we hams great authority and al living one. - It is the more necessary I should give you this authority, for the same individual has charged me and you, and others, with aiming to subvert the coustitution. It seems that the same Inglis-ideal,' at the head of the Counter-meeting,. has been inviting all parties to juin against that party which he says is bringing the government into contempt. I shall spew you that though he thcinehliiroper'reeentlitoadopt this course, it is not lung since he sanctioned, approved of, and red commended the very measure we are noW . pursuing. Who do you suppose is my authority ? It is an authority of no less importance,. than the great Deputy Kamble himself. [Universal groans, hiases, and shoutsof indignation filled the Hall.] In all that t have ever saki againsteurruption mud "Oases in the State and public men, • 1 have fallen share, indeed, and have kept at au humble distance. from this great and distinguished Personage.— About two years ago, this great man brought for. ward, in the Commits Council of the City of Len. don, a plan of Reform of abuses. We know, that since that period abuses have increased,' and that there has Wee no Reform. Now, hear what . be has said upon that occasion. I should tell you that we declared, in one alio Resolutions„ the de. vision of the House of Cesseiens, - in the cue of the Duke of York, was against the sense ,of the ;country, Mr. Kimble said,- ids blood chilled ;with horror at it (+seining the decision of the House of Commons). " Whit," said. he, . 14 does it signify who are in offiai ? Every party ire grasping at every thing thief can get hold of— ' Nothing is to be by a change of Aditiinistrk. tion ; fur if We bring in otrefilien, we shall only bring in other plunderen t - ivith empty. purses and hungry bellies, who will prey more greedily upon us, than their predecesiors." Tbis great man, you obierve, was disgusted at seeing men of all par. ties, grasping at the public mosey. He thought that theaters they had, the awe they would ed. Government. these, these wen will question men it. the -. t •• , . testing. yo, _..sty lo adhere , - ----- shall be guided by temperance and prudence. For a l e. self, I have only to say, I want the Constitatios of the Country in its purity, and nothing more. II wee aimed at more, nor do I wish fur mote. 1 have Gan in public life among you now about to years, and in that time I never had a viem beyond, the true and genuine principles of the British c os . stitutiun. If there are any individuals who vials t., go beyond it, I know rem not. Men, I admit, ' may sometimes :hew an intemperate teal, and yet mean well. [" True, very fair, very monly. o l r am sure no man acquainted with the Cuatiteition of England, can be so dull and stupid, as to with to subvert the House of Commons, because he must know it is by the House of Commons alone purely, truly, and actually representing the -Peg: pie of this Country, that the ration can have, or expect to obtain the liberties it ought to eojey. .--It is by Parliament, that the &Conn a our abuses has been delayed. An IfOisoor a ' ta c Member, Mr. Barham, laments that popular de. lesion, as he calls it, which attributes to Paella. meat the delay in reforming public abuses. Ho tells the Ministers that it is their fault---he charges 'them as the authors of the abuses, by opposing Inquiry, and screening defaulters. But let me ask Mr. Barham, how could Ministers be able to do this, if we had a good, pure, and upright House of Commons ? If we had a House of Cum. mous really representing the people, it would be a barrier against those abuses. which affect the pee ple. It would then be what Lord Somers has said it ought to be, ', the grand inquest of the kingdom to search into, public grievances, and re dress them." , What is it we complain of ? we complain of the iunotation of our rights; the in. notation' of them by the House of Commons it. self. We want to put the House of 'Commons iu. to its proper'shape; we. want the Constitution to stand on its own trio: principles.. [" Bravo, bravo! nothing but that."] Let ani epponeuts point out the particular things we desire that are uneuras6. tutional. These Who tell you that you are sup. porting what' is unconstitutional, are deceiving you. You are seusible that your only contideace is in Parliament, when it properly represents you. It is by Parliament alone, so constituted, that you can expect to have every thing you desire done for you ; but It is only by strong representation that a Parliament like the one you have...a Par.. Hutment composed of so many men in office, will ever be itidtrced to adopt those measures which shall give you a proper representation. Gentle. men, I hope you wiltdo rue the justice to acknow. ledge, that I have never is addressing you taken up your time in speaking of myself; but there are some things necessary to be stated by me, fur the purpose of repelling personal abuse, aid 4 direct attack en my character. I have been charged tittestihally with things which aresuppose4 . to atiectont , clittracter and conduct. 011atleitells wheneverl hitib found an old Reformer turning his hack on the people, and the canoe be has es poused, I. hove neer thought it my duty to drag that individual fliritaiii. I think that when they bare charging us with aisloyaity, they ought to 'stand pure and unsullied themselves. With respect to my private character;' I bare never thought it 'necessary to enter into its vindication, for I con. slider that even the meanest and meat protligabi have their rights ' as well as others, of which th ey cannot borleprivedwithout injustice. I once heard a Learned Judge on the Bench sar, when he was trying a person for an offence which was attempt- . ed to be palliated by showing that the Prosecutrix was a woman of bad character — I heard theJudgo. upon that occasion say, " If she is a woman of bad character, that is no reason why she sbeol4 have her property taken from her." I sea well assured that !Inching in old newspapers in Coffee-houses, and people have been recently going aboat iii the pamphlets of a bookseller in Cornhill„ for the base purpose of xeriving calumnies agaiart ma which have slept for thirteen years. I,know fist they have sought to injure my character, and this they have done like true assassins, by concealing their names. And, Gentlemen, what is a re inarkable circumstance, the very person who set hit engines to work to endeavour to alum:slate me, tesit a friend of his to call upon me in order to tirevail upon me not to make public a . qtnerOT meat Job. ("Name, name,"resoundedfromn ou tV ' darts of the Hail). I have stated this fact before . to the gentlemen's face, -aud it is too well known ' to make it necessary fur me to repeat his name — Gentlemen, without entering into any refutationof the calumnies with respect to which n o man can or dare meet one fairly and openly, I shall cone tent myself with saying, that if any man has an y thing to allege against me, he cannot (brnes great! er kindness than by coming forward in this place - to state it ; nor can you do me a greater itinduese thanby hearing him. (" Bravo ! bravo , noble, tortnili ; we krone your character too well.") — I an' persuadedi Gentlemen, that nothing t hat coold I affect my . private character would have been suf. . ,l'ered to have remained concealed, considering OS 1 I am every day annoying the friends and sulport er , of corruption.— If they I ward any thing to my prejudice,ecld have m bromi cuptaet they would not have suffered it to ha ve slop! MI teen years—Gentlemen I beg pardon , (" o, MO, no, go on") I felt it necessary to say thus much, a fur a with reference to myself, not so mach on mY 0 1 account as because it seemato be s rapist plan ilus Friends of Corruptioo, when they cannot I - meet us' fairly 'ici argineet, to propagate t o r 'caul slander , w ilt a view to prejedice as 111 the pinions of reuse wisosiliood Atreus we NO CO. vet.—Thil ha been: done with regard to, 'l4. Wardle; ,Br. ; W,lii;Wfilad, Red every public cha rector whOltakopposod and itteiniad the torrent of cat : l'4l l 4n. .. Calumny as a tat ic _hick ovM . Y, jiubliCntan mist be content to bear , sad min I° the pilreit characters easpot expect to MC a r ,•. . ' . . . .. .. .. . . • . ♦ • , . • . • • 'I II Z STATIISKAN:: • ~. ._ ~♦ . •7•-•-•••••; , ---•.-.1r. , .47..../..„4..........--zss=7s*nirlier ' le ann . making such dis. he kola' a Ouse *der Government. 411 we A‘ 51re3: ".....1471 411 7 4 7 ;ii, ......, ed, that till the abuses in our • Of hirer's in the City of *set, Gentlemen, Is4o know these facts, its or. government wero .. , we ought to p o p t ed to proceed. 'Det eves der to faro a proper eitlmate of these men who Islay week, to his ~ esty, with a pedtion.— rward with the temper I oppoioonthonest visitii;- - - • Woes will chair umpiienuemen, I kiwi ! ! , lnconvenience you spud mid hear them. [" We with disloyatty,:we Slog* eutreestion their lembisetffer in ,this crowd* - *ee l wed I am afraid / spotted very .extraordina. ' tires, add to see whistliersSbey are men whom we live alreadidetaised:yoU too long. [46 N o , Do where they said every are pent and supporting' out al• the produce off NO , go on."] Homier, I shall h o t enter mud ; such attention, that when our tales. [lficoolost , piamilito.) Gentlemen, at length ante any eE ,the subjects connected wi t h )rd in opposition to th e within dire, ef lone '$ She seep of these Conn. thk.Meeting. I (lav e only to beg, and exhort y ou . -__ T.._..i..e....‘...- I 'A./ • VawlinissiOtlOr of Atrial, it adhere to a line of conduct which shall ' r i i i # : ! 1 i • - - -or! i