The National Register.
London, England, 1818-01-04 00:00:00

SUBSCRIPTION FOR MR. HONE.

A very crowded meeting. of persons styling themselves O.
friends of the liberty of the press and trial by jury was held
at the City of London tavern, agreeably to advertisements to
promote a subscription fur Mr. Hone. A few minutes befog
one o'clock, Mr. Waithman, the chalnnau, accompanied by
Sir Francis Burdett, anal several other gentlemen, entered
Irons the Committee room.

Mr. Waithinan, upon taking the chair, spoke to this effect:
—Although he had now to resort that a person of greater abi-
lity than himself had not taken the chair, yet he never felt
greater satisfaction then p'n the present occasion, because no
object could be better calculated to save the liberties of En-
glishmen than the object of the present meeting. (Applause.)
He had hail no previous acquaintance with Mr. Hone, and
when, a few days previously to his trial, he had met him in the
street, and showed hint the jury list, he scarcely recognized
him. He had never read the parodies before the trial and
though he had no taste for parodies, yet he had before this
periOd seen many parodies, hut never before did he see a
prosecution for a parody. There was no person who cosld
doubt that, if those e'arodies had been written in favour of
Ministers, and in ridicule of the reformers, Isis Majesty's Go.
vernment would never have noticed them. [Applause.] If
the object had been to rescue religion from insidious:Meeks,
the laws were open, and they would have proceeded in the
ordinary course. But be wished to state, although he was
irregular in introducing any ohservations of this kind, [hear,
hear.] the manner in which the prosecution was executed and
conducted. When the Auspensien of the Habeas Corpus woe
proposed, and various papers were referred to Committees of
Parliament, a great deal was said to inflame the public mind,
and to enrage it, not only against political writers, but against
those who were desionneed as venders of blasphemy, In.
stead of prosecuting—[here the speaker was interrupted by
the entrance of Lord Cochrane, which called forth excessive
peals of applause)—instead of prosecuting alleged offenders,
as they would have dune if their object had been such as they
pretended, they took quite a different course. They dragged
Mr. Hone from the bosom of his family, subjected him to
many vexatious distresses, and iestitnted prosecutions against
him, after the constitution had been violated, and the most
unf muted rumours hail been circulated to ensure a verdict
for the Crown. He attended on the last day of the trials, and
part of the other days, and witnessed the exertions of Mr.
Hone in behalf of the liberties of Englishmen. [Applause.]
He said the liberties of Englishmen, because their liberties
were founded on the liberty of the press. [Applause.] He
resolved on that day nothing in his power should be neglected
to reward a man who had merited so much of his country.
[Applause.] This meeting was instituted by a few who bail
retired to a coffee-house, and who felt as Englishmen for a
nuts who had antlered so much and exerted himself In a man-
ner so honourable to himself and so useful to his country.
He had not a doubt but an intention so congenial to every
English heart would be amply carried into effect, and Mr.
Hone would be enabled to support himself, his wife, and his ,
family, with comfort and honour. [Great Applause.] Gen-
tlemen had prepared resolutions which would be read to the
Meeting.
Sir Francis Burdett rose to address the meeting amidst an
uproar of applause. Those in the remote end of the room
persisted to call upon the Hon. Baronet to stand upon the
table. After some reluctance he complied. At length
he thus addressed them :—He could not but feel extremely
flattered by the manner in which they had received him ; at
the same time the very few words he had to say to then
would not justify so much anxiety to bear him. But if Ise
were to enter lolly into the subject, lie should take more
time than they could well apace: and there was in truth no
subject of discussion, for the importance of the liberty of
the press of England was well understood. The next to this
most important subject, and next only to that subject, was
the duty ofsupporting a struggling honest countryman, op.
pressed by prosecutions on scandalous hypocritical press
tences. [Great applause.] The resolution which Ise held in
hie band was one pledging their support to a countryman in
these distressed circumstances. They owed him a debt of
gratitude for his manly exertions in their favour.—They
were to express, too, their feelings, and those of the public at
large, (for he believed the public were of the same opinion,)
respecting, Cat, the false pretences on which the proseca-
, lion was founded, and then the oppressive manner in which
lit was conducted. They were then first. to caplets their
approbation; next, their gratitude; and then they were to repay.
Agreeing, as be did, with the worthy chairman—and no maw,
could disagree with to the liberty of tlw press and'
the trial by jury, he would take the opportunity of saying,
that there was no solid support for either, without a fair re-
presentation of the people in Parliament. [Great applause.)
Without that, there was no security for either the liberty of
the press or trial by jury. To this the people had as good a
right as the king to his throne. They were no longer the
deluded people—they were now fully aware of their griev.
fasces and of theit rights. The many publications, written
with so much indnstry and so ranch ability, on this subject,
had produced decisive effect. So much progress had been
made by the circulation of unanswerable reasoning in a plaits,
easy, intelligible form, that what was once supposed beyopd
the reach of human power, was actually effected, and the
people of England, with one voice, demanded a reform in
Parliament. This, too, was the period when it ought and
must be adopted. The country was quite alive to the merit
of Mr. Hone. Up to that time they owed him a debt. He
said up to that time. They hail nothing to do with his future
conduct; he bad no doubt but he would continue to act as an
honest man ; but for Isis conduct up to that time he felt in.
debted to Mr. Hone. The ability with which he defeated
(he blushed to say it) the judges and the Court-lawyers excit-
ed his admiration. [Applause.] In the volumes of state
trials, which were usually said to be libels on the judges, none
could be foetid more oppressive than this. Against this pro.
Iw:idiots Mr. Hone displayed a moral and intellectual power
beyond all 'praise. The elasticity, the moral and intellectual
miler he exercised was most animating, and would, he
hoped, prove must beneficial to all his countrymen: bust par.
titularly to every defendant in cases of libel. Another
eetitleman, though not immediately brought under their ob-
servation, deserved the greatest honour for his successful
exertions in correcting the list of special juries. Persons
accused had been deprived of the great purpose of a trial by
jury. That sategamd of ismocesice was thrown aside by the
mana.ement of a cos rupt system, and an old, corrupt, worn
1111 i jury list I sik-red the trial by jury an instrument of
cinch), and oppression. [Applause.] That individual, Mr.
. Peas owl, by detecting this monstrous abuse, had laid the lona
dation of Mr. Hour's triumph. This was a foretaste of the
iit-slogs of a reformation in general. Juries would now be
touml, not the toots or Government, hut honest Englishmen.
friend, Mr. Horne Tooke, used w say, that the trial by

F