The Sun. — London, England, 1804-08-29 00:00:00

I 4 !. ("3 , THE FRIENDS OF We. AININWARIIyG, AT FREEMASON'S TAVERN. A Meeting , having been appointed by Circular Letters to the Gentlemen in the interest .of•Gitox,cts , llouvrom MA 1 NW ART NG % Esq. yesterday the• Hall. of this Tavern was opened at one o'clock,. and be., fore twos numerous party of his friends had as. sembled ;- among whom we observed Mr. THoRN -701, Sir \V-rd. Gfartoms, Mr. MELLISH, Sir WIL LIAM CURTI", Sir JOHN HCNEYWOOp, Mr. WI. CRAM, Mr. 13LACKIIURN, .Mr. ,COCKERELL I Mr. WELLs,r.and a great, number 'of Members of the House of Commons, and other OCTSUIIS of the, first consegoenee in the City. Mr. FIENItY THORNTON hiving been called to the Chair,- ii was proposed that the doors should be shut ; to which Sir WILLIAM CURTIS immediately. objetted„declaring it to be expedient that the con. duct of the preient Assembly should be exposed to the whole Ctluntry, for the bake of presenting an example to the• People - of England, so Well'worthy; their imitation. • Mr. THORNTON then addressed. the Company 'nearly as follows " By the Circular Letters Gentlemen have re. ceived, they are already informed of the , general ob. jet of t hi s M eet i ng. • It is in Consequence of th e proce e di ngs a t the late Elation fur Middlesex, to consider of the best means of maintaining Mr. IVIAINWARING in the seat to which he has• been eleded, and of supporting the insulted rights of t! ! - . whole County. " I think it right to represent to you what ap. pears i to:nle to be the present state of the contest ;. and, S in so d o i ng, I shall take the opportunity of observing on the rise, progress, and.conclusion of the tr a o sa fti ons; touching slightly on . some parti culars, a n d 'dilating on others, as their•respettive importance shall demand. * - , 1 W e all recollea the contest of 1802. Sir ti RAN- Cis BURDETT thought proper, on that occasion, to offer linnseif to the County. Few thought that it was at all likely that lie would succeed.' This opinion was riot only entertained from the reweet and conli4ence Mr. MAINVARING had nitrated, but Item the universal understanding that the Ba. inner Wati connected wi t h those who were ill.affcct... ed to the Constitutio n ; and that the violence of his own principles would admit very few to ap. pear in his support. Ile, however, grounded his. claims, on the County, on the situation .of .Mr.. MAINWARINO, as a Magistrate, and on the con. duCt of Mr. AK is, whom he was supposed to pro. led. These were the topics on which the Parry Most vociferously declaimed. To you, Gentlemen,. I need'say very little on such a subjea ; but it is the general sentitnent, that however faulty Mr. Anis *might haft been in many respeds, in point of hunianity his character has hitherto been un. impeach a bl e . 'I mention this to slim, that this was only the meteor of a moment ; it was exhibit. ed before the Public to dazzle' their eyes, and then to be cast upon the winds, and dissipated for ,ever. have read the Report of the Committee respeti. log Mr. Aft is, with very great attention ; and I am hold enough to avow, that the delta of .Mr. An ts was not sev er i t y, b u t an indulgence excessive and indiscri:itiate. Biit,• - Gentlitnen, this Of fi . err Was . but the instrument ; the objet o f t h e rarty was • to disgrace Magistracy' itself through. tht: the'Country.. It was nut the grave office in Middlesex only that was• to be defamed, but all the justices of the CoUntry were to'bc represented 'as • leagued with Mr. A it ts, for the purpose of outraging every principle of huttianity. By these, 'leans, the c ontest f or Middl esei was not a rival. Ship between two individuals , —it was a confliet Anarchy . and Order, between. Law and , n l V e . ree) hetsieen every \Wog sacred in Society, f • - ` "%niacin Government, and every thing pro. pnaigar e , and abandoned. This is one of the 'prominent features in this business . Another is, e tterogatory c is connr . ations with which Sir FRax. B uaDET T i s united. . He has not affeeted to Cc . )nc eals , that he has made his- agents and compa. .. i t ' l°ll i lhe most notorious .chara ft ers, some of whom Dar been acquitted, and others convidesl at the of their Country.' One person who has been most adive on his canvass, was Secretary to the %;orrespanding Society ; another man was the De. Fury at Paris, and was sentenced to be. exposed on. ti; with the se M en aroun d hi m, S i r F RAN. BU R D ETr may - br supposed to elevate the colours ° ,, F ; Mr. BONN EY , an d to f oun d his preteiisions on "Hireftio n and dishonour; 1" - Unde r these circumstances, it is no wonder. if m%',e. should h ave t h ought the designs of Sir.T,RANc is vaus'ir %ere merely to excite a tempest ' iii the succeed th e.porulace, without the smallest hApe of iiuteceeding in . t h e objett to which he has, thought' ‘'Pite. The Venerable Magistrate felt rational to-warrent ' 15 ,.,P n e 1 ° ,, ;." . in5 . of success, and the state. of the Poll " But th ere e d ecisions of his judgment. Sir F was one • • circumstance which gave alas aaNCIS apart' no s • , advantage over nOpO n ent• H e and Was a than Ili& rides of great opulence, the tu W er e lavishly dispersed to answer '• r .Pse of hi Eleftion. We all know that I . h . one .y 'will, at its. c:unmant), Produce - a6ivity ; that w:11 colle4- votes ; and that, by jta.itssiptance, a le.ndid figure ma y be, made, by means, in other fle'Peass apparently inefficient.. But this was not the Only -cxpedienr; prodigality was assisted by method in its aPpliCation. " All this did not seeiff adequate to encounter the difficulties that were opposed to it ; and Mr. i I•4 4 lstwAtt_iNc c omp l a i ne d that Sir FiAwcts BUR nITT kept • open the Poll with Out any proira of success. .Sir FR A NC t I, it seems, -was hest acquaint , ed with his Own resources, and, on a sudden, Within the last two or three' days, the Elettion lo s o a k a turn, new and unexpected. ":It is impossible not to advert with peculiar at. tention to what haVe been called the Mill Vores. - .-- . Of these votes; .three hundred and, seventy were in favour of Sir FRANCIS BURDETT. i• have looked ins() the 'evidence upon this sUbjett, and the incur. tnationJrum which 'I have drawn my conclusions,. is from a person who voted 'in favour of the Ctuner". Mr. MILIAN, in - his evidence • before the ommittee of tlisi`HouSe of Commons, says, that : subscriptints to the Mill; ankthat, from that time to the 4th of August, there were not more th - an cane hundred Proprietors... In otte part of his evidence, he says eighty_ or .ninety. The three httnicreir% 41. 'seventy - votes were.given in July, •18oz ; thit if , this evidence .of the friend of Sir FRANCIS be at - taltcorreCl, 'kw° hundred and seventy votes, in !single afFair,Artust be a nullity. There might•ise laboot two or three hundred who had a , right to , •seme share ; but whatever qualification they' had, was posterior to the' eleetion ; yet they ventured to swear diredly the contrary. Many of them voted on the very day after they became Partners in this concern. They gave forty. shillings for their pre. tended right on Tuesday, and on Wednesday. pre. smiled ,to vote. Many. of these persons were.day.' labourers, and: in the meanest situations.' Some -ek cuse might, :on particular occasions,, be admitted from the ignorance 'of people of this description ;. but the words of the.oath are so plain, and the nvore ,of the obligation is tao sacrrd, that even among these We ate at a loss, to eplain this utter degradation of the. human mind; •all .regard, not only to private faith, but to public decency, .was abandoned, and;by these means, the temporary success FRA.NC IS BURDETT, was obtained. These traniatiions are the more extraordinary, because, the profits whiCh . 1 . were the foundation of these pretensions, haVe never been received, for the - itself was not hallcompleted." . [The chairman here- adverted Co the evidence before the Committee of the House._ of Commons, and , read, at considerable length, several extras from it.] —‘ 6 I dwell upon 'these, remarkable fads, that it may be potettly clear,. that these men had not the smallest pretension fur the vote they dared to give ; the oldest member could have no right to vote. The property was in such a state, that ,it is loth fair anti candid to conclude, that no doubt on the invalidity of the. claim to vote could exist in the mind of the most ignorant. The payment of 21. or zl, 45. 61, on the pretension bet up, was to enable, two or three hundred persons to swear to a Freehold of forty shillings per annum, than which no absurdity could possibly be presented to the understanding more palpable. " If in a case so gross, which was SO likely to submitted'be to the attention of Parliament, they adopted such means, you may judge what other, ways were pursued, what other,arts were prattised, • to subvetse the same designs. I really think, after • what I have now represented su conclusive, that will not examine any other instances of fraud to which the adverse party have resorted. I(nOwing all these circumstances,' you will n,t, Gentlemen, be surprised that Mr. MA I NWARI NG went before the Committee of the House of CommoOs in perfect security and confidence. He objetted to no less than two thousand two hundred votes polled in favour of Sir FRANCIS BUR DETT ; a number much exceeding half the poll of that Gentleman. He afterwards, to prevent delay, waved his objection to a portion of the se , an d limited the inquiry to about fifteen hundred vo tes . It will scarcely he credited; that out 'of this reduced number, thirteen hundred and six were found 'to be nugatory. Gentlemen, from this specinien of honour and fide. lity in support of the Baronet, I leave you to judge of the glory of the victory they afFed to have. ob. mined, in what they .venture to denominate the cause of truth and virtue. 4, It, is lamentable to see the perverson of which the mind of. man is capable, and i t will Oludantly be believed, that when these fabricated votes were iliought forward, Sir Fit Is BURDETT congratu. laced the persons around him, that then, and not till then, the real Election had commenced'. Ile felicitated the Country on the purity of his own in . . tentions, and on the integrity of his friends ;'and he attempted to represent the malignity of the mo. Lives with', which his adversary was aftuated; anii by which those who • supported him were etltially impelled. " Thus has this County been represented'by Sir FitANcts BURDETT, without the shadow of a title. He has enjoyed a seat which btlunged to his competitor,' and the County mast consider itself aggrieved by this usurpation. 'lt was not surprising, that there was not any serious attedipt to support the votes of the thirteen hundred and six,' In truth, there Was nothing to, defend. Mitch this fact before us, it is quite'unnecessary to go into the varinus •fabricatiOns for the purposes of the moment ; it I wera to do sO, the whole Would exhibit a scene of villainy hardly to be paralleled in the history of • " It is to be lamented that the question on hri. fiery, by Sir FRANCIS gURDETT and his Agents, 'during the late Scruiiny, was not pursued with the attention it manifestly deserved. I ought to state, that, it shoUld not be understood Mr. ,MAI N. WAR ING has given up the idea. of prosecuting in consequence of the various outrages committed „doting that contesi. It was thuugtit.by his .Cuun. sel, that the Petition ought to precede all legal redress.. • . . ' "Of the number .of the votes of Mr. MAIN.' WAR INC: which. were set aside, the greater portion was owing to mistakes* stating their places of residence upon •the Pull. There were not ten per,. lons who were not Freeholders, and there k not a single Charge of fraud substantiated. It is a great source of satisfaetion to me, in. the ostensible situ. ation to which I have been called, that the purity of Mr. MAINWARING'S charader and condo& is thus established. lam equally solicitous to detea perjury in the voters fur Mr. MAI NiVAR ING as the supporters of Sir FRANCIS Bo R I TT. LI a case, it is not the vote . 4';, - iwhich I attend; it is the perjury to which I.apply- yself ; a crime which, fur the sake of public morals, must not he disregard ed; and I am bold to appeal to public morals, to the cause of individual truth and general virtue, when I intreat your support on the present important oc.- casion. " Sir FRANCIS BURDETT being thus disappoint. ed in point of pumbers; turned round, upon his ad. versary, and attacked hilts on the ground of treat. ing. I should be extremely sorry if Mr. MAIN. RARING Were to have been discovered to have in tentionally violated any law on which the freedom of the Country, and the purity of the Constitution depends. The law, however, is sometimes ambi guous, and the best and, MACS{ men may be some iog at Fleetitin's, has ; not been, oniform. it, has held; in tl.ie case of ilornug4s, that it is la 4ful rn conduti Voters to fre, place of "Eledion, and to dive 7 thein she refreshment nature 'requires . . It :imps 1114 is hot the:l3W of the. land:with respeek t 3 Counties; anj Mr. IVlA'rw.vait4c was declared cap:ltie of obtaining hi, S , ar; bec.lo3e he hail not leaf date diAtinaion in this nice point of Parlia mentary Brit; Gentlemeni by whin was thistclarge brought forward . ? It was made byr f Sir FitANcsi 13 - UkDE ;. and it' was in evidence- before . rho Co'mmitree , the t 11.3:14, were openiM for the' 'entertf-inment of hi.: own Voters: 'One of the inn. keepers at Brentford:frankly acknowledge'a, he was applied to for this purpose, by the - Agent of Sir FRANc Is. Irott see, then, the decency oithis pre. tension is much like all the rest ; it was: neither honourable or'creditable to the Baronet ; and . who. ever should have supported ibis charge, ,Sir FitANCIS BURDETT vas the last person by 'whom it should have been maintained. . 41 I will not omit to - advert to the Report orthe Committee of the House of Commons, which - high authority, after a long and la . bAious exaMina . lion, declares the true judgment on the nefarious .cbodigt during the Defiler' to which T have refer. red. 'That Committee has announced, that on the 13th, 14!h, and tsth days, there was gross nth .eonduti : that R. A. Cox and Sir W . tik. 'RAW LIN . S were the instruments : that they did Wilfully and unlawfully admit to poll,. for Sir FRANCIS BUR. DE TT, - three hundred persons, by - which a colour. able majority was obtained for that Candidate. The .CoMmittee declared, that the Sheriffs objefled to the validity of votes which ought not to have been rejeft .ed, aitd abed in contr idiCtion to their known'cluty; that, in favour of Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, they af forded opportunities to persons who had no right to poll ;and that they held out temptations to Perjury, contrary to the - meaning of the authority with which they were invested. ." After this exposition of the decision of the E. Committee, is it possible, with any regard to fair argument, to coofine the censure ? Is it not appa• rent that the culpability is nercolifined to the She riffs, but that it has extended to the Partizans of Sir FRANCIS BURDETT?" The former permitted, the latter committed. the wrong. Thus - the. 'Most dis. graceful Perjury has 'teen tolerated by Sir • FRANCIS Bust Darr and his -Counsel ; has been pra:lised .by his supporters ; and all the epithets applied to the Sheriffs are most silkily applicable to the former. Will any man doubt, under: these circumstances, that this short triumph was obtained without the . exhibition of the most.scandatous scenes of political iniquity? I take this Report, then, of the Commit.. tee, to be a. const tative declaration uf.the rectitude of Mr. MAINWARING's CODthin, androf the con. srary on the part of Sir FRANCIS • BUR DETT ; and I shall, be extremely :frricerneki it the County in general have not understood this Report to be an exposition, by the 1-I,,usi of Comin , ms, of the .cot_ rapt means by which Sir FRANCIS. Birk D ETT tamed his Seat. I have detained you a lung time, but I am fear. ful I must request your attention yet longer : for in what re:yeas the second contest, I have not' yet arrived. at 'the threshold. • , • Some Gentlemen 'will recollea the difficolty there *was to 'procure a Candidate to oppose „Sir FRANC IS- BURL:JETT, nut certainly Rom tespeft for the buptriority of his legitimate pretensions, but from tbe apprehensions which were felt . cf..the inor dinate expence. The charge of the ..Eledion. of Mr. - tNW AR trio, stn. •was very gicar, the Scrutiny involved an additional expellee, and for a consider able time the qtgstion seemed ro -be, not Who had the fairest pretensions, 'but who, had the longest purse. With this experience before him, Mr. IVIALIwAtwio, Sun. would, not 'venture to under take the contest until some' prospen of indetr;:iii. cation %v.', presented. Nothing, thirefore, could be more proper than the SUbscriptian which was adopted, and with this liberal support, lvlr.GE.uttG e BUULTON AtIINIVAAING declared himself a Can. didate. _ _ . " The first, ground of Objeaion. to this Gentle. man was, that t.kiiiiSubscription Was itself illegal: The opinion of 'Gentlemen learnel in the l'aw %vas obtained; *.their sentiments were treated with con tempt; and Sir FRANCIS BURDETT invidiouli7 re. mirked, that a recen t determ nation of a Learned Gentleman high in office had been given, but his judgment bad nut been found to be infallible.. It is curious to remark,. that notwithstanding this formal,a Subscription bas now been en. tered .i.4 -tut in is our of ttie Baronet.' It seems that the sPfentlanr of hit fortune, and the muni. licence of Ilia mind, are not esteemed. , sufficient for the support of his cause, and new means must be resorted to, to prop, up the nodding edifice. . .st We all know what . a torrent t a abuse has been poured forth upon those who have dared to oppose „,. Sir. FRANCIS BURDETT. Mill all the . readiness feel to alloW for prcciritation of mind, and the violence of Orty-leelirg,' I can supply no apology for this intemperate calumny. We ate not only all of us charged with being Contranors anti Place. men, but we. are dead to all the sentiments of 'Li. betty, and insensible to all the blessings of the British Constitution: Surely it is nut too much to say, that those Of) c.in degrade themselves by this indecent and indiscriminate cen•uire, are not :fit to represent an'lndependent Como y, which has important rights to he proteded, by the calm exer. cise of political wisdom. • ( 4 But, by Muir') is this virulence employed Is there a man, who possesses a loyal heart, who does not also poisess a sufficient discernM;nt to discover some consistency in these pro;ttedings ? Sir FRANCIS BURDETT' has' been connctied ith men who have proVed traitors to their Country ; anti . he has received into the list of his fritrids.one 'individual, who is publicly known to beat this time assisting in the destruaive projeds'of BONAPARTE. If any thing is competent to awaken the sen4ibility of Englishmen, in one common cause, it is the cir cumstances which I liave now relutlantly exposed, because, they are diatractful to Me; and to my Country. Ii was natural to expel, after what hiid passed ' in the former Election, that the same scenes would he again presented. The same, houses were opened ; the saute Agent; wets employed; and all the external . . . _ 3:frerent were the Officers wilo were placl io au , *thurity ori,the recent occasion. . . " I must nut intrude upon your not.',ee. coarse remarks on the foul praaices which hay fern re.. sorted ..tO, without giving you some part ictslars ,of the eirpedients which have been empl .yed. -1 t h i ll not.mention trifling fatts,; but the trwre rerntrl:able circumstances must not escape, your attention, at-A from these you will,be Capable of deciding, if the nutni)er of votes in favour of Sir FRANCI4 _EU it. n ITT be not, at this Eleetion, as well as t.fie hst, merely a colourable pretence, without linf'thlrig s'ubstanlial by which it can be supported. ... histnry of the prOceedings Will eNilaio tri itgtirr: t ...,., ing." " (Tire Chairman then instancerta va s iety. q(' tin; 'l6 7 4tlitri — ks and infimpus practices ditAraceit• the Partizans of Sir Ffi fre BUYiStVe, ;ti , et; - tion ; and continued ;1 Whatever may have been the arts empioved on the otherside, those who have sided fir MAI ti- WAR 11.16 !fare been Mlsr anxbus to vvid intro. during persons to the Hustings who were : not en. titled to vote ; and,it will be a Listing's:m*l;44m to our minds, that we have not condescended to disgrace a British Eletlion by such•derogatory ex. pedients. " This is 'not a contest merely of a personal kind'; it is to restore the,County 'to its tights, which have been so injuriously violated; and it is ,at least consolatory to see, that the effeft of the, system adopted by Sir FR A NC IS B URDETT , must be, that if an investigation for three , Jr five muntlrs should again take, place, Mr. IVlnt xwAitt /NG will be confirmed in his seat by a decided majority." Mr. TkORNTON next advtrted to the condud of the Sheriffs,' and on comparing their trans Jethro, with the words of the Ac't, he cuncladed, that the; had been entirely governed by a correc't view of their official 'duties. He commented with much force on the artifice praetised by the oppsite Party, in not polling their votes at an early -hour in the day, in order to facilitate their infroaneli gn upon the Poll during the confusion in the Aequel ; and remarked, that Mr. Ct.ii:FOltO was himself very late in his'attendance towar.l4 . the conclu.4on of the contest. With these obstrudions, the Sherifts'ltad a very dinicalt part, to act, yet they acquitted themsclees in a way that justly intitled die thanks of , the Country. But notwithstandi ng t h e Sheriff; have thus taithfully * .discharg , :d their duty, it is said by Sir FRANCIS Buitosyr,lhat MAIN, VI :I . R I N has usurped the situation to . whi c h have returned him as duly eieelell, although Sir Vit A N. cts himself reposed on the same seat fir two years, and to which he had no pretensions wh atever . I t Must noC escape him ,to state to the respect "I)! et number' .of Freeholders then assembled, rtlat ries had been made, with as much, accuracy timehad admitted of, resperling the ten votes whiLh were said, on'the 15th day of the Poll, to 'have given Sir FRANC Is a majority of one Ildoll the nerd Poll ; the. result ofd which was, thzi' not vne was found.to b; valid; ant •it will be rucolleetell,' that, the charge of usurpation is founded solely Oil the efficiency of these v o:e An at'empt was suisst•luently mid:: to ch:rge the , ground . , ann - tr tvas pretended, that the rx.oninatio n s by the Sheritri, af t er the r e o'el.!ck thu [silt day was a.:scrutiny. Mr. :Tttba.NTOS ithin pro. ceeded to compare the short and irtvgl!ar sion, with the scrutiny 'referred to in the. AZI, and slimed that there tv:ts not the Sm3tieic aitnilarity, c.lnsequent:y t,o ground wh4tevet fvr,thi3 new experiment. _ • i:3,:ntlenten were not (continued the Finn. awl'. rri a ii) uninforined, th..t the itiench of Sir FILMIC It Butt orrr had entered it.to a sulis::rip:ion, either to he applied .to new speculations, or to relieve their Ctndidate froM some portion - of the pecuniary bor.. thens I,e - had sustained. It was not for him to judge' of the'applicarion of those funds, bat they affinded a motive for a contribution on th , t other side, which should inset the purposes the Gentle,. • men ..he addressed had unitormly. presenled. to theinselves. SJ much zeal awl JihertlifY had been m foliated, that he was confilunt these' qualities would noron this iecasi , in be found deli.. Cie.nt. Every motive existed for the present exertion, in opposition to the artifices which have been ern. i,loyed to alienate the minds ,of • the people froM the bleNsings of our happy Constittiiion ; and' he ltii .pealed, with grewanimation, to the real Eleaors of the County, to unite fur the preservation of their rights, for the ptotettion of the pori t y' o f t h e m e ,L._ tive Franchise, and of• whatever i 3 valuable. to Englishmen. ;),Ir. Mgt.!. said,:he should have very little to offer after the able manner in which his Honour able Friend in the Chair had opened the business. It had been his situation to be present during ,the principal part of the transactions at lirentford, 7 and he had an opportunity of, beim , petsuided, by what passed under his own immediate observation, of the corrcitness of the statement Wtijelt had been, 'given. He then justified the conduct of the friends of Mr. MA INW AR 'No, and' exposed the litigious disposition manifested by the opposing party, in oh., jetting fo Mr. Justice Goose, Mr.Cmt 4 tiow, Mt. , " Go>P:V, and many other persons whose property is great, and whose charatlers were beyond the reach 'of stispicion He t otn,tnenteJ on the irregularity of examining` the votes.. after ,three o'clock., and no ticed the PlVeSt, Which tht e Col.loSel Mt. MAS NI WAR ING hid entered against it., Mr, I\IE4A-10i then said,.he had proposed a few Resolutions, which, he should submit to the discussion and determina. of the Gentlemen ptesent.• lie had no , cola!' attachment to the form, and should be happy to hear, and to adopt' the correttions of any une who, wou4l Like that 'trouble. Alter a spurt explanation from the Chaircrhin, Mr. Mit.t.tsti proposed the first Resolution, being secu-,:sett by Mr. WELLS, was read from the Chair, and carrled unanimou4ly. The other Rtso. lotions were then r,:a'd in order, were seconded by the same Gentleinso, ,11,1 were all passed with the same general Q.o., , :urrcnce. ' r, is said that GcnerAl CAULINCOVIT, who iOCk 'the Duke of EN4fII4K tt has died bud» denly at Buol Yesterday tits Lotto . MAYott ordered the Fit e of Bredd to continue 4 ts. dm varitrn. lay t~ whe,Lten ; and ro d. housettad, at