The National Register.
London, England, 1809-08-13 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

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WednesdaY a numerous and respectable body of the Free-
holders of the County of Viddiesex met at the Mermaid,
Hackney, according to appointment, for the purpose of taking
into consideration the propriety of petitioning Parliament for a
Reform in the Representation of the people.
Sheriffs Smith and Hunter took the. chair precisely at one
o'clock ; and the requisition for calling the Meeting being read
by Mr. Sheriff Smith,
Major Cartwright rose, for the purpose of submitting several
Resolutions to the Meeting. He apologised for the long
postponement of the Meeting after the requisition had been
signed, observing, that this being a subject of paramount im-
portance, required mature deliberation; and besides, it was
thought necessary, to consult that body of men in Parliament
who had taken their stand on the rock of the Constitution, with
the design of freeing the people from the usurpation an .1 tyranny
of the Borough faction, who have trampled under foot the rights
of the Crown, as well as the liberties of the people—(opplause)
—And here he wished to introduce to them a Noble Earl, who
had lately become a defender of the faction (he meant Lord
Selkirk) who had told us in a late pamphlet, that no reform
was necessary, and that it wns not the road to any publiz benefit A
whatever. He tells us that Parliamentary Reform is a delusion,
a mere bubble, calculated for the amusement and the deception
of the public : and he charges those with bad designs who
Woggle to obtain it. Ile does not scruple to call reform "a
portentous experiment for throwing down the land-marks of our
Constitution." Now he (-Mr. Cartwright) had looked with
care for these land-marks that were thus to be thrown down,
and he found them rotten Boroughs—(A laugh). They were
the land marks of the Constitution, in the same manner as the
ruins of Athens and of Rome, once cities so proud, so free, awl
so glorious, were proofs that they had long since sunk under the
iron yoke of slavery and oppression. We have no want of suen
land marks ; they were in too great abundance among to, both
in eur civil and military system. We had once a militia, con-
sisting of every man capable of bearing arms, and trained to
arms under their landlords and superiors, so that no staildin
army was necessary. Every man was a citizen and a soldier a
the same time; but now we have an arms quite distinct from
the people, we have barracks beyond numbers, and numbers ot
foreign German mercenaries—( Hear ! hear !)—NaN, so far has
this infatuation gone, that even one of our districts on the coast
is commanded by a German. God grant him patience ! K bile
he spoke of such things. If we looked at the civil part of the
Constitution, we shall find no fewer Char. 307 Members of the
House of Commons, for England and Wales alone, returned by
these rottea boroughs; and, including Scotland mind Ireland,
about 352 of these land marks of our freedom were removed by
the same means, and their place occupied by the land marks of
despotism.—Besides, there were about fifty-eight open borou_hs.
where the voters visibly sold themselves to the highest bid-
der, which brought the whole to about four hundred and ten
Members, a pretty good majority .of the number of six hundred
and fifty-eight! add to which that about one hundred and twelve of
these members were, after they came into the Ilouse, place toen
and pensioners ; and about 78 would be found besides, whose
names were in the Red Book as Naval and Military Officers,
and who were thus dependant on the Minsiters of the day for
their fame, their emoluments; and their honour. Major 'Cart-
wight concluded with proposing a string of resolutions, of
which the following is the substance :-
Ist. That in a Petition presented to the House of Commons
in 1790 it was offered to be proved at the bar, That about 154
individuals, Peer 3 as well as others, are able to place in the
House of Commons, a majority of members.
2d. That a large proportion of the House of Commons are
adventurers, dependant on the Crown.
34. That it was offered to he proved, in the same Petition ir-
-1790, that seats in that House were as saleable as cattle in
Smithfield, which was then asserted by a INiember to he a scan-
dalous and false imputation; but which was proved in the last
Session by the case of Lord Castlereagh, whose conduct had
been most unblushingly justified, or at least passed over.
4th. _Resolved, that when seats in the house of Commons
are bought and sold, then the laws and liberties of the people
are bought and sold.

5t
represent
6th.
aid

AUG. 13,

7th. (That Kin.; and Peoote as equally interested
,in this Re-
form, because the faction has interests separate from each, ant!
inimical to both.

......
The Bth thanked Sir F. Burdett for bringing forward a mo-
tion on Reform in the last Session, inviting him to renew the
same, mid calling ups'! other counties and large towns to follow
the example of this Meeting.

Mr. Hare Townsend rose to second the Resolution, send in a
long speech enforced the necessity of Parliamentary Reform,
from a view of the burdens of taxation, arising from the pre-
sent system. In illustration of this, he observed. that he had d
farm-at Godalmin, which he could let for 1601. a year, and the
hnrthens upon it in the shape of tythcs, income tax, horse tax,
poor's rate, &e. &c. amounted absolutely to more than the rent.
( Hear ! hear ! ) Here he read a long extract of a letter which
he had addressed to the people of Godalmin, on a recent rise of
the great tvthes in that parish. He computed the Land Tax at
161. Income Tax 31/. Poor Kate 571. Road Money 101. Church
Dues 11. Great Tythes 31/. Small Tythes 111.—Total £l5l.—
The proprietor of the great tythes had lately proposed to raise
them to fifty pounds a year, but he (Mr. Townsend) would n 6
longer submit to such oppression ; he would give up the cultiva-
tion of corn altogether, and no longer be the mere agent of the
Church or the State, to give them with the one hand what he
got with the other, w line he bore all the odium with the people,
of selling corn at an immoderate price, which only the affluent
could reach. Tythes were anciently divided into four pails;
one went to the bishop, another for support of the church,
third to the poor, and the fourth to the parson; but now the
parson put the whole into his own pockets. He concluded with
observing, that those only who had the courage to resist do-
mestic abuses would ever make any effectual opposition to a
foreign enemy. He did not Irk,' to deprive the church of its
tights ; but he thought that some relief was due to the agricul-
tural interest, and that could not be obtained without a Reform
; in Parliament.

Mr. Madden had no objection to the matter of the Resolutions,
hut, before they passeil, wished to offer some observations with
respect to the form. He was astonished that so much moderation
should he expressed on the subject before them, by a man who
had suffered so much from the prevailing corruption of the times,
and instead of calling it, with him, the Commons House of Par-
tilment, would call it the Lower House of Parliament, as they
ippeared no longer the Representatives of the Commons of
Engiand. He would oppose, however, all petition to
Parliament, because he was convinced that it would serve
nu purpose, and, on the contrary, advised that an address should
he immedicolei:,., presented to the Crown. Buonaparte had suc-
ceeded only against corrupt and profligate Governments. Were
the necessary reforms to take place' in this country, there was
nothing to be feared from that Despot of the Contineut. With
respect to Parliament,' all farther measures were unneeesshry,
' unless the people were unanimously to join in demanding redress.
They only wished to have restored these rights they had enjoyed
before France even pretended to understand the principles of
I iherty.
Mr. Bentley supported the propriety of addressing Parlia-
ment, as if productive of no other good, it would at least create
discussion, which was a great means of disseminating knowledge,
and nn the dissemination of general knowledge they were ulti-
mately to depend on EUCCCIS. The Worthy Gentleman then went
into a long enumeration of abuses which loudly called for re-
form, and the only certain remedy for which was, a Reform in
the Commons House of Parliament, and the present corrupt an&
unequal system of representation.

Mr. Waithman ;aid, with the Gentleman who had sug-
gested the propriety of addressing the Crown he in some mea-
sure agreed as to the little hope of success to be entertained from
petitioning Parliament, but at the same time reminded him that
this was the only constitutional mode, and that whatever th•
result might he, it became them to discastrgt4 their duty and t•
express their sentiments. He reminded that Gentleman at the
same time, that any application to the Crown, with respect to
the Burgh Reform, would be useless, as the King, by the Act of
Settlement, at the Revolution, could not disfranchise any burgh,
or erect any new one. This could only be an act of the legis-
tature. The King, however, might be athiressed with great
propriety, with a view to inform his .17aje• ty of the actual state
of the representation, and, as Major Cartwright had stated, of
the danger arisin,, to the Crown from that car -er, as well as to
the liberties of the people. It was not probable that his Ma-
jesty could hear such information, unless from such a quarter.
, It was his wish that every country should reform itself; bad

_
th. That the people are th%deprived of their share in the
-esentatinn .. h :. „, . isrped by a corrupt Oligarchy.
th. Thu , "1") ~ . .ish riots at elections, &c.
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