The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1820-02-01 00:00:00

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silt of, Ciere are always( 17 o► it of tilitlit.the
friends and adherent. of Alinioters, thus lesslbst the
iu•lependent side of the House only three. No man
Can suppose if the election were merle openly, that
inivters would he so barefaced., to elect eiglsteeu
of their own friends out of a <retumittee of twenty-
one, and th.t, too perNaini, upon a qie!tiotin in
which the character of Ministers thernseivfl is its.
volved. Such are the evil effects of 1/41101, in this
inittnice, and 1 feel coofident that in the election of
Members of Parliament it would only encourage
bribery, perjury, and every species of corruption,
and would iii a great meatiure send to destroy that
a.drit of independence which di.iinguishes the elec-
tions of thi. country over every other.
For fear of being misunderstood upon these sob.
jects; I have thu. fully stated my opinion of them,
and however I may differ front them, 1 repeat, that
1 do not attribute any improper motives to the rid-
roiCil tril of them, but extend the carne charity to
them that 1 claim for myself. Before concluding,
I cerium but lament Ilia we are nut now ussenibled
in the proper place fur such meetings, and I regret
exert-dim:ly. that any feelings should have induced
the Chief Alagistritte to refuse complying with a
requisition so numerously and respectably signed.
I certainly conceive. that he has taken a most mis-
taken view of what his conduct should have been—
(Appluese)-at the Genre time 1 am bound to say,
tact 1 consider he has been solely actuated in that
conduct by conscientious motives.
. .

W. A itascaoNG. Esq. neat addressed the meet-
ing. After witmme.bing the cordial reception which
the Resolutions had met with, lie kit confident
they would not hesitate to adopt time petition found-
ed upon these Resolutions, winch he was now about
to propuseto thew. lie alluded to the manner in
which the demand for inquiry Into the late melan-
choly tratis4cttuiis ut lauchrstrr had been answered
by the f uuse. It had beets said, he continued. that
the Members for Old:Sariiin were as valuable us those
fur l'orkshire, but he denied it. A Foreign Prince
'night purchase the return of Members for Old
Strum, but it would lie utterly impossible for thin
to noinniate two for Yorkshire, as ineffectu ml, he
'rusted, as all the r ffiirts of the cleruy in a neigh-
bouring county to oust a popular Member. It was
also worthy of remark. that the Members of
bosotighs divide with Ministers in the proportion
of lire to our. while those for counties only ea four
to three. Whenever reform had been agitated. that
loigheer the French Revolution had always beets
brought forward a. an argument aghast it ; hut the
state of France before the Revolution bore no resem-
blance to the present state of this country, and it
was absurd to sty that the reformers were.workiag
fur mm revolulion.

The petition being seconded by WI LUAU JAMES,
wee carrier' unanimously with great applause.

Sir MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY then moved the
thanks of the Meeting to the Chairman, to whom
he paid a high and jaslly-merited compliment.
Thi: motion boring been seconded by A. DONEIN6
E -41. was carried by acclimation. Mr. Biagi
sh9rtly returned thank., and roan after dissolved the
meeting, which immediately departed in the greatest
peace and order.

I lIPEIIIAL PARLIAMENT.