The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-05-04 00:00:00

;

• •
frESTAIINSTE Z AtElthy G.

•icsicr• ti fy a Meeting of the Electors of the City of
Westrninifer And the Liberties thereof was held in
Palace-hard, for the purpose of taking into consi-
deration the *Mites seal gross violations in the ma-
nagement and expriditiire of the Public Money,
disclosed by the Tenth Report of the Commission-
ers of Naval Irquiry.
CHAuus BiIuWNING, Esq. High Bailiff, in the
After the Requisition for the Meeting was read ;
Mr. W [SHARI' came forward, and having apolo-
gieed for trespassing upon the time of the Meeting,
and begged their indulgence, he ail/cried to the
many great :tad enormous abuses which hid been
disclosed in vete Tenth Report of the Commissioners.
of Naval Inquiry. He referred to the AEI of Par-
liament, by which the salary of the Treasurer of
the Navy was increased to 40001. per annum,
ha lieu of all other emoluments, and severe' other
causes in that Aft. He reprobated, in strong
and energetic terms, the condua of Viscount
Melville, and considered the misapplication of
public money one of the• greatest offences against
the state, as endangering our free Constitution, and
corrupting Ow Officers of Government. He laid
particular stress upon the conduEl'of Viscount Mel-
ville, who had been the original flamer of the Bill
under which the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry
a4led ; he compared his situation to that of Lord
Chancellor tiaten, who was not only dismissed from
the presence of his Sovereign, but struck off the list
of the Privy Council, expelled the House of Peers,
and obliged to refundhis ill-gotten wealth to an injurt d
public. He commended, in the highest terms,the late
vete of the House of Commons, by which they had so
eminently supported their dignity and consequence,.
and which was so enthusiastically approved of by
the country at large ; he concluded, by hoping that
if any one desired us speak in favour of Viscount
Melville, the inhtibitants of Westminster would
give him a fair healing (Here there tree a general cry
rf No! No! No!). He returned thanks to die
Meeting for their indulgence, arid proposed a
series of resolutions, which his friend Mr. Richards
would read, as he was so hoarse he Was unable to
proceed.
Mr. RICHARDS then reed the several Resolutions
(far which Are the front of arir passer) ; and, after tie
question was put by the. High Bailiff separately,
upon each Resolution, they were unanimously
Agreed to.
Mr. Fox thee came forward. and spoke nearly as
follows:—" Gentlemen—l have now had the ho•
lour, for twenty-five years, of addressine you on
a variety of political subjetts, as they affeaed Ibis
country, either with respell to our foreign or do-
mestic foes. I thank you for your kind, partial,
and generous conclutt. which I have had the good
toitune to enjoy for such a length of time, and
which has ever been constant and uninterrupted.
roe present question is so well understood by the
public, that I have little to acquaint you with, and
a very few words will suffice upon the present oc-
casion, to inform you of every thing which is at this
moment necessary for your immedtete consideration
nd adoption. Tbe first mien to which I shall
wish to call your consideration is, to the obligation
we ail owe to that great and inestimable eh:tree:a
Earl St. Vincent ; it would be idle and superfluous
in me to endeavour at this moment to particularise
what is due to him from this country, for the naval
services which he has perfo-med in its favour : ycu
all know as well as I do, that they have been the
wrist brilliant that in the 'person of one man ever
graced the page of history; and, as the friend of
th it Noble Lord, it gives me the most heartfelt sa-
tisfaition to rata, and be able to say, that he has
been no less successful in vanquishing our foreign
enemies, than, be has been unremitting in his zeal-
ous endeavours to encounter and overthrow our
domestic foes. I believe. Gentlemen, the latter
task was by far the more arduous and difficult, that
of all theetruggling enemies he ever had to combat,
Viscount Melville held him the hardest tug—/ Loud
meeleiesc). After having raised his great name by
the number of French and Spanish Admirals whom
be has attacked and conquered, it gives me most
heartfelt satisfadion to congratulate you on the
event of his having attacked and forced Lord
Viscount Melville to strike his flag, who com-
manded the leading ship of our own Admi-
ralty--((cord applause). I hope and trust all
those in inferior commands ssia shortly be com-
pelled, in like manner; to strike their flags in the
same way. But. Gentkmen, while I have it in my
rower to address you in this strain of congratulation,
I cennot help, at the same time, warning you to
adhere to the absolute necessity of a further prose-
estinti that is doe to this nefarious heelless. Vis-
kount Melville has, by the late prreeedings of the
House of Crime:ions. been compelled to resign the
high office he held of First Lord of the Admiralty ;
this, you may say, is a great ezample, but I entreat
you, not to stiffer yourselves to be led away by this ;
se have no t-eciitite wuatever, to assure us that the
against which be has so heirously offended,
may not, in a similar manner, be Molten by his
immediate or future successor ; what great pledge
have we wherewith to comfort ourselves with the I
hope that this may not be the case, when we find
tbe present Minister of the day using all his efforts
to bard olf any further punishment from that great
delinquent. Mr. Wishart 'has told you most truly,
that the Aft, agiirist which Viscount Melville has so
atrociously offended, was Ida own produflion, and
that he was the person who introduced it into the
!louse ; it has eves been the pride of Englishmen to
toast of the eiperior excellence and efficacy of their
leas •but even the best and stronge.t laws will not
do, if net followed up by the just punishment of
those who hare notoriously viotated them. It has
been said be some, that Viscount Melville has been
Already sufEcieuily punished ; how has he been pu-
nisbesi ? lie tea voluntarily resigned his office of
rest hoed of the Admirelty: this, und,ubtedly,
may, in she i••stanee of that Noble Lord. be deemed a
mark of vety great.selt-forbeerance ; but I beg leave
to remind you, that he still terrains in possession of
en any great places anderaolumeots. There is ano-
thet emisidcration, Gentlemen, to which I beg to
cell your Attention—though ;he House of Com-
mons, and th it Spr.aker at their head, have, by
their late resolution, ccentemried, in the severest
sevens, the cosideft seal prettier. of Viscouat
vdks in violated that very Azt of

. •

-j

•
•
Parliament which he himself initoduced, far 'the se-
curity, proteetion, and he lppropriatian of the
public money ; yet Hic s pres-nt Ministers
Isaac uniformly endeavoured, since that event, to
screen him from any further punishment and when
we consider this, at such a moment its the present,
we can draw no other inference than this—that
those Ministers must have certain very powerful
reasons fur not daring to bring that Ish•ble Lord to
a blither account; stow tar others may be impli-
cated in the same criminal proceedings, is not
known to any one but themselves. God forbid that
1 should anticipate the juigment which will hereaf-
ter follow, upon a full and future investigation of
these nefarious transaelions ; but the conddel of Mi-
nisters has been, and still continues to be, such as
to warrant the best founded suspicions, that he has
not been the only person concerned in these trans-
it/lions: if yon, conjointly with the rest of the peo-
ple of this country, persk in demanding further in-
quiries into those inwortant suljeas, and press, as
yon ought to do, fa• the punishment ot al these
who ate proved to have been participators in .he
promoting and forwarding these enormous alnises,
there can be no doubt but your viatuovss efforts
will finally be crowned with success. I have no
difficulty in saying that His Majesty's Ministers, in-
stead of bringing this delinquent to condign punish-
ment, have afted with him as their associate, and
attempted to vindicate his charafter, for which they
have gone before the public marked with consider-
able resentment. Such has been their conduit,
which will, I hope and trust, excite you to per-
severance ; but, if you should flag in your ex-
ertions, and safer not only the present d:linquent .
to go unpunished, but those others who are impli-
cated with him, you will have no tight hereafter to
complain. I therefore trust there will be similar
meetings in all parts of the kingdom, and that the
laws of the country will. be enforced br them.
Gentlemen, I have but one word snore, which does
not concern this city in particular, so Much as Many
other parts of the county; the House of. Commons
is composed ot 658 Members, out of which the
, greatest number who have voted upon any occasion
this. Session, was 437; so many absentees upon so
great and important questions is not, in my opinion,
a proof of their zeal and tab vity. The representa-
tives of the people ought not to give their votes ac-
cording to their own opinion ; but it is their duty to
follow the instruitions of their constituents, and give
them their most serious attention. With respell to
your own representatives, I s!iallonly say, as to your
'other representative, he is employed at present in
His Majesty's service ' • with respell to myself, what
remains of my political life shall ever be devoted to
your service. He concluded by moving a vote of
thanks to Mr. Browning, the High Bailiff, for his
readiness in convening the Meeting, and for his
steady and impartial conduct in the Chair.
Mr. Brownioz, having left the Chair, returned his
thanks in the handsomest manner, for the honour
which was conferred on him.
The thanks of the Meeting were then voted to
Mr. Wishart, and the other l; nirlemen who had
signed the requisition; attcr waich the Meeting
was disMlved.
•