The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-10-02 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER ELECTIOM
10, consequence of excessive and wilful misrepre-
sentations of the Speech of Mr. Paull. at the West-
minster Meeting, a friend of that Gentleman, who
was present, and took notes, pledgee himself, that
before proposing Sir Phascis Burdett, Mr. Paull
delivered himself very nelilj as follows :
Mr. Poo to. said, that ifilies with the utmost in-
dignation he had heard of the unwarrantable and
disgraceful compromise of the Committee in whom
the Eledors of Westminster had reposed the sacred
trust of seleCting some independent person to succeed
the great and the ever-to-be-lamented Fox. They had
given up the very object for which they were chows ;•
and, after a series of the onost shameful tricks
(which had been most ably exposed by Mr. Gib-
bons.) they cams forward, in defiance of the
express vote of the F.leeors, and had dared to pro-
pose the very man who was expressly and positively
rejected. They bad been direiteil to find a Can-
didate to oppose i.ord Percy, instead of which they
came forward, and recommended Lord Percy. He
trusted, however, that the Bleetors, by their vote
this day. would shew their detestation of such con-
do/I ; he trusted they would convince them, that
they would never be the willing dupes of any jug-
gling compromise, for the surrender of their rights
and liberties.
It was now obvious to every body, that West-
/tails/tar had been most basely ' and scandalously
bargained for; but he trusted, that, by an all-
powerful effort, they would prove, that no man,
though nominated by die great family of Grenville,
supported by the mighty house of Northumberland,
and backed by all the weight of the Ministry, should
ever be forced upon them as their Representative.
Hitherto they had prided themselves, and justly too,
upon their independent spirit ; and he was sure they
would not now allow this presumptuous young
Percy to walk over the course without a competitor.
What ! shall this great and imperial city receive.
from the hands of the Grenvilles, a creature of their
owe, as its representative? However, until dire
and positive censure was proposed and carried
against those men who had violated their trust, it
was in vain to proceed.
Mr. Paull then proposed the Resolutions of
censure, which having passed unanimously, he
said, the censure • being now declared. (and,
he trusted, it would cps ste beneficially,) he
same to the °byline °hied of the Meeting—
• a fit and promo Representative to succeed Ole.
Fox. Are the 10Am:of Westminster to be told.
that this young man, Lord Percy, of whose
political life they know nothing, except that
he has come into rarliasstent under the favour of the
Ministers of the day, is a fit and proper successor for
the immortal Mr. Fox ? lie trusted that they svotOd
never cast so foul and so infamous a slander upon
his revered memory, and that they wou'l never so
degrade themselves in the eyes of the world, as
to suhmit to such a proposition. They had
been told that no man could ever he found wor-
thy of succeeding him whom they had lost ; but
Le would not allow such an iraputatioq upon
the tattoos, the spirit, and the patriotism of the
country. as to admit there was no man fit to
be the Representative of Westminster. There writ,
thank God, many great men left ; and why should
they all be passed over, that we might come down to
Lord Percy .! Will it be asserted, that Lord Percy
is so far superior to Mr. Sheridan, as to render it pre-
sumption in that Gentleman to oppose him ? Yet we
all know that Mr. Sheridan thought it prudent to
give way, where his own claims, and our wishes,
gave him a right to be firm. But, though Mr. She-
ridan, yielding to mesons which we must All la-
ment. and which many men still condemn, has de.
eLnad the contest, let not the enemies to the inde-
pendence of WeACDIUSttr suppose, that it was to be
Sella, given given up, because one man, however
With his charafter, diet not choose to stand forth as its
champion. It was his (Mr. P.'s) intention, now to
sante to them a man, wbo he was sum would meet
with their unanimous approbation ; it was Sir
Francis Burdett, a man dear to the Friends of Free-
dom, dens to the people of England. and dear to
the brave. the good, and the patriotic, in every
part of the world ; a man whom he considered as
best calculated to maintain and defend the rights
and the independence, not only of the city of
Westminster, but of all who glory in the name
of Briton ; who, before every other man living,
be thought worthy to be the successor of Mr.
Fox He had beard it asserted, that Sir Francis
would certainly decline standing a candidate tor any
other 'deco than Middlesex ; but he could not, he
would oco beOeve, that impressed, as Sir Francis
must be. with the danger of this momentous crisis,
Wham every thing dear to us as Englishmen, and as
men, was in danger. he could refuse to comply
with the call of the city of Westminster. If, how-
ever, contrary to his hopes, and to the hopes of all
who heard him. Sir Francis should feel himself so
bound to the Electors of Middlesex, as to decline
she suffrages of Westminstet, he would then pro-
pose s gentleman who had ever followed the steps
of that great and revered man. Mr. Fox ; who had,
at an times, and under all circumstances, been use
of his best and most faithful friends ; who had suf.
feted with him in the talkse of liberty and independ-
ence; who had been ready to sacrifice his life upm
the scatfald with that great and good man, in behalf
of the principles which he supported ; who, in times
which tried men's souls, had richly stood forward
as the solvocate of persecuted patriotism ; and whose
very name was at this day the tarot' of every tyrant
in the British dcmiaioas. He =want the Right tits.'
John Philp t Curran.—To such men as those it
was that the country must look for its salvation ;
• and, before such men. Lord Percy would shrink
into imbecility and uu %Pithiness lie meant r.otLirg
personal against Lord Percy. He knew nothing of
his private charaaer; lie had heard, and he hei+tveJ,
that it was in gym respect unimpeachable. He
knew him only as a man standing forward tor pub-
lic employment; as such. he had examine.: his
•
pretensions ; and, in toe language of a floe and
honest moo he a-served, ilia' he was unworthy of
the support of the Elettors of the great city of W.:so
minster. ‘Vhat arc the claims of Lord Percy ? He
is the son sit oiie of the richest and most powerful
Dukes in Kngland ; and. is the tours: of a
few rats, will. in ail probability, be soch a
Duke himself ; but, is that any season oity he
should be eletted as the tepreselastiye of Vilest-


Minster in the House of Commons ? He is also
an accomplished amiable young man; but are
there no such mess who possess also patriotism
and talents, without which, private virtues are
but a slender recommendation for a public wan ?
He has also another claim, founded upon the teen-
tation of his family : but what has the family of
Northumberland ever done for the welfare, for the
happiness, the freedom, or the glory of England ?
What, he asked, has Lord Percy done, to entiile
him to the suffrages of the people of Westminster ;
of the supporters of Mr. Fox ? His father, the
Duke of Northumberland (by one of the abuses of
our Constitution), sends six Members to the House
of Commons. Ho could as well have brought Lord
Percy into Parliament, as any of those he sends.—
But, no; Monier to leave no doubt in the minds of
any one, of the political principles of this boasted
family of Northumberland, they condescend to ac-
cept, for their son and heir, a borough belonging to
the family of Grenville; and Lord Percy thus come
into Parliament, under the patronage, and by the
favour, of the Minister. Every one who knows any
thing of the House of Commons, knows, that coming
in that manner, Lord Percy could be regarded only
as the tool and creature of the Minister; and that
he must have aged in striel conformity with his
wishes, be they what they might. And who, he
asked, is this Minister Lord Grenville; the cou-
sin, the friend, the admirer of Mr. Pitt. And will
the free Electors of Westminster, he again asked,
condescend to accept a Representative from the
bands of Lord Grenville ? No ; he trusted there
would not be so foul, so black a stain upon the ho-
nour and the integrity of the Independent EleFlors
of Westminster. To the Grenvillei, he said, the
country was indebted for twenty-five years unquali-
fied reprobation of every noble, generous, and pa-
triotic opinion, maintained by Mr. Fox, and ap-
proved of by the F.leetors of Westminster, and the
people of England. To the Grenvilles the coun-
try was indebted for twenty years active labour in
the service of Mr: Pitt ; for having assisted him in
all his attempts against the liberties and rights of
the people; for having supported him during the
whole of a long, eapensive, unnecessary, ill-con-
cluded, and bloody War ; for having participated in
all the seas which drove Mr. Fox into exile ; for ad-
vising His Majesty to erase his name from the list
of the Privy Council; it is indebted to them for
those ever-memorahle attack: upon the freedom of
speech. and the liberty of the press, called the
*neaten and Sedition A.(ls ; it is indebted to them
for the suspension of the dateas Corps! Bill, for the
State Theis, and Coldba h fields Prison ; it is in-
debted to them for attempting to semen public
offenders ; for not voting against their friend, Lord
Melville; and for the most a:lamella ieks to pre-
vent the trial of the Marquis Wellesley, whota he
openly prow els ; it is indebted to them for doubling
the Income.,Taz ; for attempting to tax private
brewing ; for bringing the Lord Chief Justice into
the Cabinet ; and. what is most shameful in a Mi-
nister, it is indebted ro Lord Grenville for fattening
his whole family with pensions, sinecures, and sa-
laries, taken from the labour and sweat of the
poor ; for holding, himtelf, an enormous sine-
cure, a pension, and a safety ; and. at the same
time, for lases to legalise all this rapacity....
Such are the men who brought Lord Percy into
Parliament ; and such are the measures n Inch
ha would have been bound to support. A.d it
it a suppd•rter of such measures that the Elecots
of Westminster will chose foe their Representative
is it from such men that they will receive a candi-
date? and is it sub a man that they put into the
place of Mr. Fox t No ; he trusted it was not. He
trusted that there was spit, freedom, and independ-
ence enough in Westminster to prevent it. He
trusted they would never be the slaves of any fa.
moiy, however great, nor the crew urea re any Mt-
Mary, however powerlul. He trusted they would
TOSS! themselves, and, with the energy cif freemen,
spurn, with disdain, the cuains which were offered

them.
He was not one of these, he said, who would stir ,
up a fatlion against the government of the coun-
try, but he world, at the irk of his fortune, and at '
the hazard of his life, stand up for its independence,
nor would he ever tamely suffer the Mi. tAty, no,
nor the Crown itself, to trample upon the rights and
freedom of the Eleaors of Westminster. He loved,
revered, and adored, the memory and the principles
of Mr. Foe, and he would always do his tnnso,t to
defend the Constitution of the country against all in-
croachments, whether regal, aristocratical. or demo-
cratical. He had gone into Parliament an inde-
pendent man, and had attached himself to Mr. Foe,
from a conviaion of the greatness of his talents, and
the purity of his views. He thought the name of
shouid now be cast into oblivion, and that ali
who wee attached to the principles of liberty, should
range themselves under the name of that great
man. It the Eleflors of Westminster were still
tree to these principles, as be was fully convinced
they were, let them give the woad one proof of
their fidelity, by ele.:liog a Fosite. In Sir Francis
Burdett they saw that man. If they desired a Re-
form in Parliament, a retrenchment in the public ex-
penditure, a diminution of the public turthens, an
improvement in the public morals, a redress of the
great and crying grievances *miler which they la-
boured, if they wished for the yreservavon of those
rights and liberties which had d.scended to them
from their ancestors, and which it was their duty to
transient, unimpaired, to their posterity, let thein
choose SIT ;niacin Burdett, Or Mr. Conan. But it
was not mania, he said, merely to call upon such
patriots to stand fo7ward. ft was out of the power
of any n an in England to stand against the conjoint
influence of the Lirenvilles, the NorthumSerinds,
and the Ministry. A subscription should imme-
dia:ely be entered into by the whole body of the
E.-fakirs, for meeting every ezpence which m ght be
incurred in maintaining the freedom of the city:
every individual should tie call d upon tocentribute
his mite and in so glorious a cause, lie was con-
vinced that nothing would be spared. If one grand
effort were not matte, mdiet: to the freedom of this
great and imocri..: city! Adicti to that esalted the-
raefer to: pabli: spirit, whit's the Lieaors have long
maintained througairut Earope; Westminster will
then be no nio-e than a family borough for the
Northontherlands and the Grenvilks. Ele.l Lord
Percy now, and nnthirg will remain to complete the
hcaourabie woe ft. but to bring io Lord Elwin so as
h,- z.alleague, at the Geh=at aectiou.

WESTMINSTER ELECTION. Minster in the Hou
an accomplished at
Its consequence of esiessive and wilful mitrepre. there no such men
sentations of the Speech of Mr. Paull. at the West- and talents, withou
nsinster Meeting, a tricod of that Gentleman, who but a slender recomi
was present, and took notes, pledges himself, that He has also another c
before proposing Sir Phiscis Burdett, Mr. Paull tatinn of his family
delivered himself very nebilj. as fellows : Northumberland eve
Mr. Pau Lt. said, that ifieas with the utmost in- happiness, the freed°
dignation he had heard of the unwarrantable and What, he asked, ha
disgraceful compromise of the Committee in whom him to the suffrages
the Eledors of Westminster had reposed the sacred of the supporters
trust of seleding some independent person to succeed Duke of Northumbe;
the great and the ever-to-be-lamented Fox. They had our Constitution), st
given up the very (skied for which they were chosen ;. of Commons. Ho et
and, after a series of the,most shameful tricks Percy into Parliamet
(which had been most ably exposed by Mr. Gib. But, no ; in order to
bons.) they cams forward, in defiance of the any one. of the poll
express vote of the Eleitors, and had dared to pro- family of or thumb
pease the very man who was expressly and positively cept, for thNeir son ar
rejeded. They bad been direited to find a Can- the family of Grenvi
dictate to oppose Lord Percy, instead of which they into Parliament, um
came forward, and recommended Lord Percy. He favour, of the Minis;
trusted, however, that the Eleetors, by their vote thing of the House o
this day. would shew their detestation of such con- in that manner, Lot.
dad ;he trusted they would convince them, that as the tool and creat
they would never be the willing dupes of any jug- he must have aeted
gliag compromise, for the surrender of their rights wishes, be they whi
and liberties. asked, is this Minist
It was now obvious to every body, that Weer. sin, the friend, the ;
eilairaater had been most basely ' and scandalously the free Electors of
bargained for; but he trusted, that, by an all- condescend to ace
powerful effort, they would prove, that no man, hands of Lord Gt
though nominated by the great family of Grenville, would not be so feu
supported by the mighty house of Northumberland, nour and the integr
and backed by all the weight of the Ministry, should of Westminster.
ever be forced upon them as their Representative. country was intiebti
Hitherto they had prided themselves, and justly too, fled reprobation of
upon their independent spirit ; and he was sure they triotic opinion. mai
would not now allow this presumptuous young proved of by the I
Percy to walk over the course without a competitor.
,people of England
What ! shall this great and imperial city receive, try was indebted ft
frons the hands of the Grenvilles, a creature of their the service of Mr:
owe, as its representative? However, until direct all his attempts ag
and positive censure was proposed and carried the people; for ha;
against those men who had violated their trust, it whole of a lone,
was in vain to proceed. doded, and bloody
Mr. Paull then proposed the Resolutions of all the ads which d
censure, which having passed unanimously, he wising His Majesty
said, the censure • being now declared. (and, of the Privy Count
be trusted, it would eye ate beneficially,) he those ever-memora
same to the denims objed of the Meeting— speech. and the 1
• a fit and propel: Representative to succeed Mr. Treason and Sediti
Fox. Are the Bletiors of Westminster to be told, for the suspension
that this young man, Lord Percy, of whose State Trials, and
political life they know nothing, except that debted to them 1
he has come into Oarliament under the favour of the offenders ; for not
Ministers of the day, is a fit and proper successor for Melville ; and for
the immortal Mr. Fox' lie trusted that they would vent the trial of t.l
never cast so foul and so infamous a slander upon openly pro.. els ;it
his revered memory, and that they wou:d never so the Income.,Taz
degrade themselves in the eyes of the world, as brewing ; for lanai
to submit to such a proposition. They had the Cabinet ; and,
been told that no man could ever he found wor. nester, it is indebte
thy of succeeding him whom they had lost ; but his whole family
be would not allow such an imputatioq upon laries, taken from
the taints, the spirit, and the patriotism of the poor ; for holdir
country. as to admit there was no man fit to cure, a pension.
be the Representative of Westminster. There were, time+ for laws t
thank God, many great men left ; and why should Such are the me
they all be passed over, that we might come down to Parliament ; and
Lord Percy .! Will it be asserted, that Lord Percy ha would have I
is so far superior to Mr. Sheridan, as to render it pre- it a supporter of
suatption in that Gentleman to oppose hint ? Yet we of Westminster w
all know that Mr. Sheridan thought it prudent to is it from such mu
give way, where his own claims, and our wishes, date ? and is it o
9.
gave him a right to be firm. But, though Mr. She- Place of Mr. Fox
ridan. yielding to mesons-which we must All la. trusted that there
meat. and which many men *ill condemn, has de- once enough in
dined the contest, let not the enemies to the Md.- trusted they wou
pendence of Westminster suppose, that it was to be niiiy, however gi
tamely given given up, because one man, however Mary. however p
high his charafter, dill not choose to stand forth as its rouse themselves,
ehampicia. It was his (Mv. P.'s) intention, now to Torn, with distill
name to them a man, who he was sum would meet them.
with their unanimous approbation ;it was Sir He was 5505 22114
Francis Burdett, a man dear to the Friends of Free- up a fadiena age
dem, deaf to the people of England. and dear to try. but he world
the brave. the good, and the patriotic, in every the hazard of his
part of the wortl ; a man whom he considered as nor would he evi
best calculated to maintain and defend the rights nor the Crown
itt
and the independence, not only of the city of freedom of the E
Westminster, but of all who glory in the name revered, and ado!
of Briton ; who, before every other man living, of Mr. Fox, and
be thought worthy to be the successor of Mr. defend the Consti
Fox He had beard it asserted, that Sir Francis croachmento wh;
would certainly decline standing a candidate for any erotical. He lo
other place than Middlesex ; bet he could not, he pendent man, an
would I.m be:ove, that impressed, as Sir Francis from a convidien
must be, with the danger of this momentous crisis, the purity of
dourh
when every thing dear to us as Englishmen, and as Ch purity u
man, was in danger. he could refuse to comply who we.e attacht
with the call of the city of Westminster. If, hire- range themselve
rA.. all man. It the E