The National Register.
London, England, 1808-05-23 00:00:00

MAY St

(lo_sAaap/ausss). There
de fence of thel4llBll7-111PWRIIMAIMIA
are persons who speak the laelgeiarraf the people to flatter and
support the Court Party, and hold out minor points of refisrm
to mislead the public : yet no other spirit prevails w ith them
than to heap additional burthens upon the -people. You have
had Comtuissiouers appointed to correct • public abuses; bet no
public plunderer has been !Nought to justice--no say ing made
in the public expenditure. On the contraey, additional charges
been made to provide for the encroased expence of those
continissiouers of Enquiry--There ate those in the country
who have compared persons in power to leeches. This cont.;
pa • , • rison in my opinion isextremely erroneous—as leeches, w hen
sated and full, will fall off; but the rulers of the present day
are Insatiable—the more they get the more they desire ; and.the
people have the melancholy reflection, that they never drop off
or suck less hard. (Applauses.) In proposing a redress of
grievances, and the correction of abuses, there are those who
will always cry, it is not the time in difficulty, distress, and
war, to agitate such questions: ,now• I .say that such iv pecu-
liarly the time : for what would be thought of a Captain of a
ship of war, who was ordered to clear for action, if be should
sac, leave all things in confusion till the action is over—( up-
plause.)—The argument of those who say that the present is
not the period for reform, is in the same way; the liberties of
the people, and the freedom of the country, is endangered and
threatened with annihilation ; and, 1 say, unless these are re-
stored, the country must eventually be lost : and if you would
save the country, make that country worth defending—(loud
applauses)—make the people feel they have something worth
defending, and they will willingly unite in its defence, but do
not let them be deluded by mock parties. A reforin of abuses is
to the Constitution what the soul is to the body ; effect it, and
the soul and body of the land will unite. It must be effected to
make the country secure. We have seen mercenary states
,sink.
beneath foreign subjugation, rather than defend their own
rights ; and the people of England, since they have no chance
of being saved by their Ministers, should think of saving them-
selves.--( Reiterated applause. )—But unless the spirit is felt by
the people generally, the patriot few can produce no radical
benefit. Therefore, gratified even as T am, by the exertions of
the Electors of Westminster, I should be deceiving them were I
not to thus publicly assert, that one voice in the aggregate num-
ber that compose the House of Commons can he of little or no
avail. We have frequently been told of domestic enemies, and
I will give the people an infallib!erule of knowing those ene-
mies. We do not usually plunder our friends, therefore those
who get the plunder are the enemies spoken of; and in future,
instead of asking who is the ;Minister, let the people ask where
is the plunderer? and where he is, there is the enemy also.—
( ..ipplauses front all parts of the r.ams.)
" It is to get rid of that enemy all my efforts nre and shall be
directed. The present sessions has added much to the burthens
of the people—nothing to their liberties : and here I have to
apologise for sitting in the House, and suffering acts to pass with-
out my opposition, that entrench upon the liberties of the sub-
ject ; hut one's body must be made of iron, and one's mind quick
as lightning, to attend and understand the multifarious business
that passes.—l take shame to myself that I should not have op-
posed the Indictment Bill, as it affects the rights and liberties of
the people. But there is another Bill (I mean the Local Mili-
tia Bill) that I pledge ms self to, oppose, and I hope it will not
pass iuto a law, at least without reprobation ; for 1 also trust
that the people of this country are not yet so degenerate and
subservient, to submit to this lie-t 6f human degradations. Mi-
nisters having broken down the spirit of the people be taxation,
now seek to take their persons by fuse.—(General bursts of ap-
plause)—l shall conclude with requesting the Electnrs•to bear in
mind, that there is one measure more that can effecually relieve
time People—l mean a Reform in the Representation of the
People; all other minor expedients are trifling and nugatory.—•
A Reform in Parliament is the master-kev—it tv ould. tend to
destroy peculators, and introduce that economy white, is best
calculated to secure the country. The want of that reform is
the source that poisons the stream that Eneland drinks ; it is the
cause of all our present evils—it is the cause of the present cala-
mitous war—and will he the final cause, if not preYeuted, of the
eventual subjugation of the couterv."
Sir F. Burdett also pledged himself to take the sense of the
House upon the question whether the Admiralty Droits
ed to time Crown or the People. Parliament might decide tle
question as they pleased, but !me would demand the decision tur
the part of the public. (rids Ipeertu was fo,loread by a tumult of
applause.) Sir Frntiris retired about ten o'clock, and the re-
!Reinder of the. escoing ea...spent us the utmost hariuuni-
-41,„ 4.4 lit