The National Register.
London, England, 1811-06-16 00:00:00

AL REf;ISTER.

Parliament. (Applause.) He concluded by moving the follow-
ing.. Resolution :
Resolved, That the Parliamentary Oligarchy became power-
-12,
ful, only because the Nation was supine—rash and intemperate,
only because the Nation, misled by imposters, forgot its rights,
and neglected its duties.
Among a people; whose Constitution is an unrivalled fabric of
political wisdom—a people acquainted with their rights and their
duties, and conversant with the foundations of both—the ways of
Parliamentary Refarm are the ways of Freedom and Peace—in-
asmuch as this Reform can only be obtained by appeals to Truth
and Reason, to Law, Justice, and Morality.. Such are the foun-
dations of the English Constitution.
The objects of Parliamentary Reform, a Constitutional Re-
presentatton of the. People in Parliament, would as far surpass
Magna Charta'and the Bill of Rights, excellent as they are, as
Political Liberty in possession can surpass paper declarations f a
right to it.
Mr. Josses Be RD cTT seconded the Resolution.
Mr. HUNT said, let an Appeal be made to the Prince Regent,
he is ten well informed to separate his interest from that of the
people—he haa the example before him, of a Jnhn, a Charles,
and a James. With regard to petitioning the House of Com-
mons to reform themselvv, the idea was contemptible and ri-
diculous. Did they not know that 157 individuals returned their
Members, and was it not therefore contemptible to think that
they would even think of reforming the abuses from which they
derived their power ?
" Resolved, in the opinion of the Meeting, those Howards,
who are the illu-erious des;:e oda;:ts of the Barons of Rannymedt-,
those of our Nobility and Gt9,tri, in v.•:,r,J.: veins continues to
flow the blood of the I.la.updeu-;, or the Pyms, of the Sydneys,
the. Russels, or the CaYL:ndishes, with all who respect the
Founders and Asicrtors of our Constitution, and who wish it
to remain a glorious In:el:men t of English cr.urage, wisdom and
virtue, may he expected actively to promote the County and
other Local Meetings, that pubic opinio•l.may be declared, and
a patriot opinion of men of rank, property, talent, anti public
spirit, may be consondated. with a hope that numerous petitions
may be presented to a Parliament for 4 li,eform in the Aepre-
sentation of tin' people." • •
..
Mr. Neter a atuae—We are here met togethetto destde upon
a subject which is of the utmost importante to us, wheftier we
are considered in the light of men, or in that of Britons—of
men, because of all the bleshigs which Heaven in. its earliest
and best bounty bath showeved down upon mankind, there is
not one bles,ing comparable with the blessing of liberty—and
of Britons, because it the liberty be valuable tts the rest of man-
kind as a natural right, it must be doubly vakiable to us Britons,
to whom it is not •ta:ty our natural but our hereditary right.--
Our ancestors fought fur it, and bled Inc it, and on the memo-
ruble plain of Runnymede they forced a crouching Despot to
sign its Charter. One of the best claims in t B
eill of Rightsre-
, is
that electinne should be free and Parliamentshe
frquent. In
spect to the frequency of Parliaments it is not necessary to en-
Lage—you have one ample illustration of the regard paid by
• your attornies to that Liii.iM in the Septennial Act, when those
attornie-:, appointed by their. principals rot three years; very
cooly voted themselves to • .it ieven, and though they told the
thinking people that it was only a truipwrory expedient—they and
their successors have taken care that this expedient shall be pro-
longed to near a cent.!ry. I now come to the hall
b Elec..
tion ; and here I am saved much ttouble bhe H
150 Ho
n. use
itself, when it has been 17.-ered to be. proved th y t
at " 7 indivi-
duals have the power of returning a majority ;" where the traf-
fick in Seats has been declared i 4 as notorious as the sun at noon
day ;" where a noted M. P. (Ms. Windham) de/stared, " that
corroution did exist was nodeniahle—eorroption existed from
top to bottom." And yet at one time such misdeeds, "at the
sound of which nor ancestors would have startled with indig-
nation," aren,.t to in' pnvisliesi because of tier R
and theretoriety, and
at another" because the attltlllpt 1.41•4 in emyo, is
nary/AC lit that Honse it was declarelby a Noble Lord,
that it was " fortunate that such phicei. did CIISt ;" and another
M erata r said, 46 the. dling had become fatnillay by custom. '.--
-It secnic we areall mirth:do:l. I have otten thought that the terms
which arA: ireque.niFj ti-ed to the Chief Magistrate are as un-
worthy ‘,l hit* to hear a; ircemen to tiee. -There has not been
a singic Plinee friun the time of Henry VIII. to ' George 111.
whom their addresses have not saluted as tle- best of Kings..
Where the climax will ends I iiroom siot ; hut there is an in-
stance of Aettlat.ion in air Feltaid Co1„e, then Attu! ney-General,
that I think.ceeds any 02* I ever ilaatt-1 in England. Speak.
iwnft onfwhlntb eeeehditrtuciaaritidd tiebltilnear!°thnaent“„lijoesegssrZeZ
ttrhean
cshoese
after hint. I trust that •he piNseot Koyal Prince t. who has s
nobly declared, that " powsr, ►and lu..u;•lur, of the Oseoses n a,. .
trust vested there ftm. the 1-anent ~1 his I.eopie ;" aid•tnat it I
i " his fixed cirtonni‘.llttife.; never to heat. ae a 1 plata. grallPro.ir
inept, meant to be an a,,y!uin ,ir reward file toe tons iinll;llts 1 Yi:.
, .