The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1810-05-17 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX MEETING.

A Meeting was held, yesterday, at the FfteMa•
tone Tavern, fur the purpose of entering mate
counter-resolutions to those adopted at Hackney,
upon be subject of the late usurpation of Privilege
by the House of Commons, and that of Parliament-
ary Reform. At an early hour, several Freeholders
made tin it appearance at the door of the great
room, but many of the well-known adherents of
Sir Francis Burdett being observed among the
party, ,t wee suggested by a Reverend Personage,
wee, active upou the °comma, tbut a shilling should
be demanded from each person, as the terms of
admission, fur the parpose of selecting the company.
It unfortunately hippeaed, however, that this pro.
pontiou was equally unpopular with both parties,
. sad it was the unanimous determination that the
idinission should be rater. The next expedient
which presented itself was, that of requiring every
one who came, to mention his name, and place of
residence, and a person sat at the door, for the
purpose of transcribing it. After this system had
gone on for some time, without interruption, it was
discovered, that the names given at the door, were
presumed to be friendly to the counter-resolutions,
and that they were to be copied out and printed. iu
order to give authority to that instrument. Upon
this, a second tuninit arose. Numbers ran to
the individual• who bad taken down their names,
and, with gestures whieb signified sufficiently the
consequence of a refusal, demanded the list, which
was, in • Short time. nearly obliterated.
Mr. BVNG soon after entered the room, and was
received with a burst of applause% netngled with
exprelisioas of di iiiiprohatittn. Having made his
way to the upper end of the room. he addressed
the Meeting ti the following purpose :—lle said,
that he had ,ireeiveil a letter, that mornin4, from a
friend, informing him, that there was a Meeting ofi
the Freeholders of Middlesex to be held that day.
He now understood that it was a Meeting, convened
for the purpose of counteracting the Resolutions of
the Hackney Meeting. It appe.red to him. there-
fore, that those who approved of such Resolutions,
had no business there.--(Cries of very fair. Bally,
very fair I—lf it was a Meeting of the Freeholders
at large, he .hould have felt it his duty to attend ;
but, finding that it was not, he felt himself called
upon to srttlidrew, as he was one of those who ap-
proved of the Hackney Meeting.

Mr. MaLLISH. and a party of his schereqts, who
were fill now .nut up iu a private room, came in,
sod were received with hisses, hooting., Lc. The
disorder because so general and overpowering, that
net a word could be heard from any of the numer-
ous candid.ites for • fair and iarsrtial Attiring.
After some time, the clamour was so far reduced as
to permit the names of Mr. Byng and Mr. Mellish,
to be distingu:•bed, and cries of (hear him) hear
Ilia .1
Mr. avec; at length succeeded in obtaining a
hearing, and repeated his former remarks to those
who had lately entered the room. He de,:lared
again, his approbation of the proceedings of the
Hackney Meeting. excepting some strong expres-
sions in the petition, which he considered not cal.
culated to support the cause on behalf of which
they were uttered. If violence could be serviceable
to the cause of liberty, no man would lie snore vio-
lent than he; but he was tiriuly iiersuaded, that, es
far from serving, its tendency wa. to ditappuisit and
to subvert Loud applauses.)—He repeated
his opinion, that he, and those who thought with
him, had nu Imainess there; and declared, that the
decision of ashy meeting held in a tavern, and list
legally convened by the Sheriff of the county,
should have no influence upon his roniliset, found-
ed as it was upon what he considered to be the ge-
neral seotinietit constitutionally ascertained. ( Loud
applause:, with cries of No Tavern Meetings, by
one party ; while the other vociferated, hear Mel•
fish, hear Mellish, we heard your speaker.)
Mr. Matttsu then said, he felt it his duty to
address a few words to them, under the present ex-
traordinary circumstances, and they should he but
few—(,l yoke from the crowd cried oat, We know
that, Sir, we have heard your speeches.)—He owned
that he was surprised, ouentenng the room, to find
his colleague there, and in the act of speaking. He
bad made his apology for that, and it was for theta
to decide whether it was sufficient—(A loud and
wired wproar)—The object of the meeting was to
enter into a counter-declares * , aid be had re-
quested of his colleague to wait for a few moments
to hear what he had to say—(Here he attempted to
read a circular letter which he had received, ex-
plainius the purpose of the meeting, but the senti-
ments were SO far from grateful to the majority,
that a violent bowling was set op, and after several
unsuccessful efforts to continue, he was obliged to
desist, and to resign the chair.)
Mr. THouesoit then attempted to address the
Meeting, in vain. Several others made similar at-
tempts, with as little success ; and it presented
most ludicmos spectacle, to see seven or eight per-
son., at the same time, expostulating with the mul-
titorle, and representing to them how unreasonable
it was to interrupt any person about to deliver his
sentiments.

The Rev. Mr. Ttituwett. at length finding
that the stores would not peace at his (or at anv
body's else) bidding," proclaimed, that all the
Friends of the counter-declaration would adjourn tp
another room. This surrender of their ground was
hailed as a sign of victory by the opposite party,
and the victory was not without rejoicing. Clapping,
cheering, hollowing, &c. ensued, to the great mor-
tification of the friends of the counter-declaration,
who retreated, not without a vigorous pursuit from
their formidAhle assailants. A scramble ensued in
the progress up stairs, to the other room, in which
hats, wigs, and canes, met with many • mishap.
The second room was soon as great • scene of
confusion as the first, and PI% Mellish having al-
ready had enough of it, Sir William Gibbons had
the courage to become his substitute in the chair.
The Rev. Mt. TURNIVALL having first mounted
DO the table, and announced, in an audible voice,
that he was the .inthor of the circular letter,
Sir' %Vn.tutt Giesows read the cvunter-de-
claration„ purporting to come from the Independent
Electors of Middlesex. The only sentence intent-
gi tile. in conseywroce of the clamour, was one which
declared .4 their abhorrence of the spurious doc-
trines set lip of late by a few factious individuals."
After this. not a word of the Declaration could be
beard. thin parrots objected to the weird lade.

pendent." iu the begiuning. Another retorted the
charge of " spurious doctrines," up• the Chair-
loan, and his iiarty ; while a third branded them
u the real Jacobins, who were the advocates
of aorruption, and the enemies of the Constitution.
When the question was attempted to be put upon
the Declaration, the expression of disapprobation
was so universal, and so formidable, that Sir Wm.
Gibbons was obliged to follow the example of his
predecessor, and the Chair was relinquished •
second time amid shouts of exultation. The
Counter-Party were pow permitted to retire unpur-
sued, which they did with the utmost precipitition,
and havisig gamed the room from which they were
driven before, they secured the door, and sat in
" close conclave." for the purpose of making up a
general opinion, which nobody but themselves
should have a hand in.

Mr. But Lim proposed immediately on their se-
paration from their political antagonists, that the
Friends of Freedom should not leave the room
until thew had adopted some meatures to counter-
act the Iklachiavelian plan concerted against their
libertsea.—( Load applause.)

Mr. BENTLEY being called to the Chair for this
purpose, mated, that it appeared to him there was
but nee course which they could adopt with pro-
priety upon the present occasion. The paper
which convened the meeting was without signature,
without place, and without authotity—(load op-
ptauses)--tud any meeting so convened, was un-
,anstitutional coil illegal. The °lieu of the
meeting was As black as its crest' war undue ;it
was a foul conspiracy to drown the voice of the
people, formally convened by means of * few ad-
herents to the horough-moNering faction, and to
the principles of Mr. Mellish ; it was a disgraceful
attempt to smuggle an opium's into public, under
the appearance of a sauctiai: from the Indepeudeut
Freeholders of Middlesex, wlin la opinion three
Freeholder. disclaimed, and against which he was
persuaded they would now have no hesitation to
express iliemselves.—( Load applauses.)—Hr then
proposed it Resolution, staling. that the mentitig
in which Sir William Gibbons acted as Chairman.
was an unconstitutional st,einpt to countelact the
Resolutions of the Freeliolders:of Middlesex, le-
gally awiembled.—( Loud applause.)
Mr. Tuouesnts said, that if public meetings
were to be set aside, by such expedients as that now
attempted, there wed an end to the liberties of the
country. He re probated. in strong terms, the con-
duct of their Representative, ilr. Mellish, arhe lied
now come forward fur the purpose of defe:ditig their
objects, cud coutradicting their sentiments, and
subverting their privileges.—(Load applauses.)--
But when they looked to the construction of thr
Howe of Commons, they could not be surprised
at this. In that lay the erne secret, why Mr. Mel•
lush should busy himself to defeat his Coostituent.,
end contaminate the Constitution. Their object
was not as he (Mr. Mellish) would represent it, the
destruction of that noble fabric; they wanted ilo
innovation ; the point to which they looked, was
the re-establishment of the Constitution. The,

wanted the whole Constitution. and nothing 'but
the Constitution.—( Load applaases.)—As to those
honest men with who it Mr. Whitbread declared
that he was surrounde I, they had a sufficient test
of their fidelity, in the vote upon the %Valcheren
Expedition—in the vote upon the chargel. against
Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Perceval—and in those
inisnerons other votes to which they had come, to
the surprise, sod disgust, and disgrace of the coun-
try. He exhorted them mermen their right, coolly,
yet firmly ; to oppose the -borough-inongering
bon temperately, vet strongly ; to stand upon the
ground of the Constitution, and they must sue.
cied.—( Loud app/oases.)—Nothing was more ne-
cessary than moderatiow. lie under.tood that the
Bow-street Magistrates sent round to every public
house to discover if there were say meetings to be
found out. They wonlil give their eyes for a plot,
said he. but you must be temperate and firm, and
yon will recover all your rights.—(load applause:4
The Resolution was then put and carried una-
nimously.
A second Resolution was then proposed, ap-
proving of the proceedings of the meeting at
Hackney, upon the assumption of privilege by the
House of Commons, and the subject of Parlia-
mentary Reform. Agreed to unanimously.
The last Resolution was a censure upon Mr.
Mellish for his conduct, particularly at that meet-
ing : it declared that he had lost the confidence of
the Freeholders, and proved himself uuwor thy to
represent them in Parliament. This bring also
agreed to unanimously, the meeting, after passing
a vote of thanks to the Chairman, broke up, and
concluded with tranquillity, • day commenced in
confusion.