The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-06-19 00:00:00

theft, satti .werettiowe to tam been die zealous sad &rola
Mettle of the Permit
.111inisters.—Whilst he praised the
Livery morally, yet would he say, that body was nut free
from alloy. It ahould be pebliety known that no Mi.
zest or London, there'll • householder, however respectable,
could be an Elector, mans a Liveryman: and in some
of the Aristocratic bodies men of known independence,
*Weyer their merits as citizens, would nut be elected.
Tie Worthy Alderman than dwelt 1111 some !meth on the
necessity sit Reform, hind the necessity of the real friends of
the people sacrificing every minor point to promote that
-treat object.
The next toast "ea.—.
" The health of the Hou. G. Bennett:*
Mr. BaNnarr said. that he thanked them for the
flattering way in which they received his name
nothing to him was more acceptable than the ap-
plause of mru who had shewn so mach discrimina-
tion in the selection of such a main as his Honour-
able and Gallant Friend.—(Applause.)—lt was
his good fortune to have been present when his
Honourable Friend had first met them ; he re-
membered the eager manner in which they
stepped forward to support that cause, which
iudeed was theirs as well se his.—(Applause.)—
The coutest elided, as was to be expected. in the
triumph' of the independence of the electors of
Sow ',wink.— (A pplaiiite.)—Tiley saw every day the
cause of the many sacrifices to the interests and am-
bition of the few—hut thees's', of truth end liberty
wasedvencing—every little and almost imperceptible
step still forwarding Oust great object which the peo-
ple had in vies—he meant a free and cheap Govern-
ment. It lied been said that a free people always bore
taxation more patiently than any other. With re-
wiwct to that, if the freedom of England were to he
tried by that lest, they ought to be the freest people
that ever existed in any age of the world.—(A
laugh).—The 11011. Member next adverted to the
present state of public distress, and the feeble efforts
made in Parliament to remove that distress. They
had, indeed, abolished one of the Postmasters Gene-
ral and two Lords of the Admiralty ; but did they
do any thing deserving notice to lessen the public
burdens. or to stop the current of public corruption ?
Nothing. The people had before them the means
of restoring the country to comfort—to real inde-
pendence and prosperity. He tired not say that it
was by the measure of Reform alone that they could
achieve those thing.. and restore England to that
glorious character which the victories and power of
the people entitled her to assume and to unnintain.
The next toast was the health of " Mr. Hume,
the active and persevering friend of Economy and
Reform, sod the Reformers of Scotland."
Mr. Hume said, that hr was satisfied the choice
of the electors in electing his Gallant Friend had
been completely realized. It was lamentable to ree
how few who lied the power had exercised it with
that spirit and discretion which reflected to much
honour on the people of Southwark. He (Mr.
Hume) was not one of those who looked with de-
spondency on the country. In no part of the world
were there so many resources—resources which, if
properly applied, ought to make the people of
England the most prosperous and the most hippy
of any people on the face of the earth—not
only from their spirit, but their great indus-
try, their immense capital, and their private
virtues. In no country was there half so
touch wealth, or half so much discontent
proof of the bad state of the Government. Amongst
the many causes of discontent stated at Agricul-
tural Meeting., it appeared to him that the reel
cause of discoutent bad not been assigned; to him
it appeared manifest that the cause of distress
was occasioned by too much having been taken out
of the pockets of the people—oat of the produce of
their industry, in the shape of taxes.—(Applause.)
—That evil, one of the greatest that could oppress
a people, proceeded from the stare of the repre-
sentutinii. If the voice of the people had been
beard in the House of Commons, they would
not have permitted millions of the public money to
be squandered on an unnecessary war. By a late
return to the House of Commons, it appears that
61 millions had been paid as subsidies to foreign
Powers—to persona for supporting their own
cause—to persoos who had the war at their own
doors, sod whose very existence depended on
their exertions and their votes. If the people of
England had been represented fairly, those subsi-
dies would not have been paid away—the public
money would not be squandered—the public liberty
would not have been endangered. The House of
Cbmmons was said to hold the purse-strings of the
people—alas! if they had that power, in his time,
at least, they never exerted it. He trusted that the
people would never cease in their endeavours to
gran that Reform which would give them an ef-
fectual control over the public expenditure. No
person who heard him—no Englishman would
refuse to contribute to the great, and neces-
sary exuenee of the Government; but he trust-
ed that every Englishman, not interested in
public profusion, would resist those ocsndslous
acts of extravagance which had prevailed so
long, and to which the country owed its great
distresses. It was not necessary for him to say
how much those who surrounded him had strug-
gled for their country, and though it might appear
easy to those who bad never tried it, he could aerate
them that it was a most trying acid a most difficult
task to attempt, in the strong hold of power, to
stein that torrent of corruption which threatened to
sweep away the very foundations of public security
and of public rights—(A pplause.)—lt was notorious
that many of the measures which had been propos-
ed by them (the Opposition), mud which had been
resisted by immense majorities in the Hou. House,
had been this Sessioo carried into effect by those
who had formerly opposed them. The Hon. Gent.
next adverted to the expression of she public opi-
nion throughout the country; the county of Nor-
folk alone had given a signal instance of the grow-
ing influence of that opinion; of the twenty-one
hundreds in the county, twelve had recently petiti-
oned for retrenchment, economy, and reform.—(A p-
plause.)—From the state of this country, from the
aspect uf affairs abroad, from the general advance-
ment of the human mind, it was plain to him that
the good cause of the people was advancing, and
that it would be impossible fur the enemies of the
people to resist for any long time the success of
their cause—the cause of Reform. To advance it
his humble exertions had been, aod, if he should
be spared. would he exerted. The Hon. Gentle-
man, alter returnitig thanks, at down amid the
applause of the meetieg.
The CHAIRMAN seat proposed the health of
Me. C. H. Huicbitmoss, a Goalies:nu whose nitre.