The Sun.
London, England, 1822-02-05 00:00:00

SEVENPEtiCi::.

,

, -
means of influence. -If they: did .not -resist` --
this, and 'compel the necessary reduction;',:,they",' .
would give him leave to say 'that they woultf...‘,
have . quite as • much_ liberty and property-4.
as 'they deserted.. If
,the House of Contnninir,•
had the virtue to restrain the .. Government
great reduction, a very large reduction indoelt7;
Would be ma.d.: When he was
.assured.by oxt,
of his friends that 70 Members of that •Hous.e4,
shared among themselves, annually,' 180,00016'X;
'the public money, Ite,,inust say that he did not-
wonder though Mr. Hume, to whom all felt great
obligation for pointing out the shathefut manner-
in which the public money was wasted; but
when he had to urge -his argunients in the face of,
such an assembly, it was no -Wonder that lie •
failed. (Hear.) Ife 'teas a sincere Parliamentary.
Reformer; but, for the sake of nnanimity, he,
refrained from moving an arnetid7t'ent, becauSe.it,.
was not in the requisition. . Till the House of--
Commons became the real representative of tli.'
peopie holding a sufficient con'sol over the pub-v
lic purse, and not disposed to vote ?.t1; and tnortii
than the Ministers asked, because they shared s7k.
much among themselves—till the Houi,e was thus
reformed, he believed, in his conscience, C,-..tt tla&
country could not enjoy prosperity. (Applaz:se.,),-
Seven millions were mentioned as a sum which..
might be reduee& If reduction wag not carried
at least to that extent, this
.. Country could not,
know improvement or prosperity. They corn-;',
plained that they had not remuneration ; but the;.
question was in What manner they were., to:
obtain it. (" Reduce the taxes.") •He Was-i.
quite agreed with them. Reduction was Eike
only means.—(Hear!)—A Corn Bill had • been;
tried, and found delusory. If ever he'felt proud
of a vote, it was of the vote he had given against
that measure. Let them not hope relief front
that: he was very glad that it was not retort=,
mended by any meeting in the coUntry.. Mr.,
Webbe Hall had been discountenanced . by all
parties. If any of them thought it,necessary to;
expose the fallacy of his project, let them read,
his own evidence; or, if they thought that too'
troublesome, let them read Cobbett—the nit*
able, and the most entertaining of publications—
The Political Register. Let not their ideas be
distracted-upon this subject. Let them keep
taxation steadily in view, which if they did not
reduce, it would soon reduce them.—( Applause.)r.
—The evil under which the country was expir
ing was excessive taxation. Lands which had
formerly returned large rents were now not worth
cultivation, in consequence of that excess of tax-
ation-Which blasted the country. There was.fiti
surplus profit. There was nothipg for the cultivator,
and of course
.nothing afterwards for the land-
lord. There was a report that the property tax would
be revived. The great objection was,thatif_theygav4.
any tax to the Government, they would spend .it.
They had taken away this tax from them befor6,
and they did very well without it. To use the
phrase of the writer to whom he had already-
alluded, unless they were ." born idiots," they
Would not agree to such a tax.—(Applause.)----
The revenue was said to be a proof of prosit'-
1 rity. There was partial distress, to.be.sure, bat
the amount of revenue was a proof of prosperity.
~
If a stranger came to this country,
.and saw the
.
distresses; levies, executions, and similar motUs
of transferring property, he would be apt to say,
that this was not the flourishing country Whi:cit
Ihe had expected to. find it. " Oh,- but,", says
I his friend, " you have made a great mistake.
This' is only' a transfer of property ; very ' di' -
agreeable, to be sure, to him from whom it is
transferred, but most agreeable to him to whom
IheAransfer is made." They might double the
taxation and • the revenue, and apply this
doubled revenue to' influence a certain assem-
bly which -he would •not mention, and to en-
rich . their friends and. families ; and they
might then say ,it was only a transfer—it was. no
distress, but greater proof of the prosperity. of
-the country. Ile 'derived ' great cOtisolation,
he must say, from 'the . present proceedings.
From the mode in which.it was felt, where it
ought to be felt,' by the country gentlemen, a
large proportion of the House of Commons would,
perhaps, feel that they would do better by com-
pelling a reduction, than they had, ever done by
. giVing taxes. As he had•said before, unless they
reduced taxation, it•would 'soon reduce thern:=--
(Applause.) ..,
.. .. '
Mr. LEEcii said, that he had not signed the requisition:—
that his objection to it had been, that it did not'express Parlia-
mentary.reform. If Parliamentary reform was not included in
their petition, they blinked the question.—(Applause.)—Hewas
very sorry that Lord King had thought it not regular to move
such a resolution: He was the last man to wish to do any thing
irregular, or to take the meeting by surprise. If they looked
' to the distress of the county,Thc could say that he was a cons:-
derqble occupier of land, and, without calculating one farthing
for rent, he was a loser.--(Hear, hear.)--Though he had not
raised his rents for the last 40 years,—(That's true, yon-have
not.") his tenants did not gain sufficient to pay him the old
rent. In 1792, corn was, higher than now, and for seven yeirs
before, and the taxes incomparably lower. The farmer was
better off, and the cultivator was better off than now, were they
to pay taxes and poor's rates only. If the lands were doiiblen
ior tripled since, the enormous taxes surpassed that. But every
1 rent-raised since 1792 must be reduced to that standard; and
ought to be permanently liXed so by every honourable landlord.
—(Applause.)—lf' it was not their opinion that he ought, h..
:would not suburt his resolution.

The Max. SIIERIFF said it was his painful duty to say,
that he could not pat the zesolutica. , It would be a fiaud on
thn -nunty.
Mr. Tow xst:ND came forward on the hustings. This Meet-
int; would b a nullity without passing the resolution. They
met to very little purpose, if they did not declare their sent -
merits in favour or Reform—if they did not embody then in
their petition—and-if they did not follow that up by all the
coAstltutional means in their power.—Wreat and continual a: .
phase.)—lf their voice was not heard, they must malte,it ba
teat. He would wait Mr. Leech's motion.—(Crks

cve.")
The HIGH SiitYIFF said, he would suffer his right'. hapd
to be cut off, before he would allow that 'resolution to be put.
He could not do it, in Justice to the absent
,fieeTiOlo:ss
(" They oug,ht to be here.")-rlf they i9V,TC aeFiroto oving
Reform discussed at a county.rneeti-og, arid if they presqiit-d a
requisition to that effect respectably and:nuyiiroUsly.44d,
wculd give it his best consideration vacd on eitiV4o,ccelazioa

I

prattle might te'regttlarly di*tussed.—(Groans anti other
Iftywkwof disapprobation.)
Matskx.ir was ready to sign a requisition for a meeting
- 10 Imiianseratry Reform ; but he would not destroy the urn-
-- nimity of the agricultural meeting. If the High Sheriff should
ream, as 4 Magistrate of the' County he would join in calling
a-meeting.— (Applauac.)--He hoped, therefore, that the agn-
onktual Interests would not be injured by cabal speaking.—
It seas the desire of many to ,get the force of such meetings de-
stroyea by confusion and irregular proceeding's. let them look
the real disease which they wiebed to remove. The vital in-
'teams of the commanity were at stage. If the agricultural ki-
te:colts were not saved, the labourer woLild, fall—the state would
ultiniately fall 'Therefore it was a great object to consider this
subject wisely and deliberately. He conjured them to exercise
their understandings on this point. It was not heeausehe was
not friendly to Parliamentary Reform, that he entreated of them
nO to intermix, it•• with the present question. How to ob-
tain. remote relief was not the qu:;stioa, but the immediate
reduetito of taxation. The expenditure of Government
has" dice, tied the estimate of their awn Cormalittee in 1817,
Co an average 1.600,n001. annually. Though Parliamentary
Retinal Ina the most desirable thing they could. have, it was
irutxpedient to connect it with the present petition. linconjurecl
%tem, therefere, not to do what would be unreasonable, and
*cold it diet-condom
• Mr. LEtca explained, that he lal refused to sign the re-
' snisation because he wished reform to be prominently mention-
eal—not because he had thought the mention of it in the -requi-
*don essential to the discussion it sit the meeting.
The H Pau SitERIFF said, he could not allow Mr. Leech td
proceed further on a topic that was not before the meeting. •
Mr. Taowtit sroke to order, and contended that the in-
irtaluction of Parliamentary Reform would make the meeting
THtt.wAtt. argued at great length, that reform was.
iheluded in the requisition, inasmm ch. as the cause was insepa-
ri.hly connected with the rustere -•and the. cure of a disease.—
iMr. Cobbett was very consOn'aclAs hi eneculaing Mr. Thel-'
widi, and applauding him.> -
• Mr. LowlinEs oppoaed. the proposed amendrri4:;it, and also
• 'objected to the intro-action of any matter was not cam-
prebenticd in the reereition. The H on.G enthern an then pi-en:ceded
to aegtie on the impropriety of intiodusing any irrelevant matter
t. wlikh he maintained the proposed ainendmere to be), but was
.401.Tequently interrupted by cries anti calls of various kinds,
impossible tocollect a connected detail of his remarks.
- • •Tibseindhidual from the crowd frequently called out—". Mr.
:ipawrdes, have not you been living on the taxes all your life ?"
This question way repeated at /east a dozen 'times t.but'Mr.
• Lo odes could .not have heard 1' from the situation in which the
p.2tson who 'proposed it occupied. ..Ai'ter several ineffectual
• tempts to fix the attention of the audience, Mr. LowntieS gave
• •,,trei *.e task, and withdrew from the front of the waggon:,
The eon: fL 0. Br-4;z4ET next addressed the meeting, and
was received with loud cheering. He began by observingothije
on the present occasion he felt himself in a very awkWard_sittia
ution. In allusion to the distresses which now prevailed in the
country, the first word he was disposed to pronounce was—Rea
form. The last word was elso—Reform. He had, ,olin every
occasion which had presented itself in Parliament, maintained
the r.ecesrity of that measure. Indeed, of its necessity there
now remained not the-slightest doubt. The want of it was the
strarce of ail the misfortunes under which the country now la-
boured ;—it was the cause of the excessive taxation, and of all
theseee miseries of which we had to complain. (Hear, hear.)'
His owh mind was fully made up on the subject. It was one
.• which he 'ned.omitted no opportunity of advocating for years_
and one which he should continue to support as-long as he lived.
iiat on. this occasion there stood a difficulty. The question, was
now bronght forward without a specific notice. The reformers
of the county were not present ; and, instead of having the ques-
tion carried by a large majority, as he had no doubt it would
hare beetle if a due notice had been given, it might perhaps be-
negati eed altogether.—(Cries of " No, no," from several parts
Of the meeUng.) He was fully aware of the feelings of the
Ceara', of Surrey on the subject. They were in unison with
those of the-great body of freeholders of almost every county in
the kingdom. They were all agreed, that in an effectual re-
form lay the remedy for all the grievances of which they com-
plained. But then the reformers present must he aware that
tine subject was not mentioned in the requisition which had call-
ed the county together. If he had had any hand in the draw-
tMg. up of the requisition, no doubt it would not have been omit-
ed ; but the dilemma in whichhe found himself respecting it
was, that it was omitted; and in consequence the High. Sheriff
refused to put any amendment which had direct reference to it.—
The Sheriff felt it his duty, and this was one blessed effect of
the Six Ants, to refuse to put any question not directly noticed
in the requisition.--(Cheers, and sonic cries of " Heinle Sum-
mer supported those Acts.") By one of those blessed acts the
High Sheriff was bound to adhere to the strict letter of the re-
sattisition.—(Crics of " No, no.") It might not be so perhaps, bu t
t'iey had only the Sheriff's opinion to go by at present ; and no
doubt, whether right or wrong, that opinion was given conscien-
tiously. Now the remed y which he (Mr. H. G. Bennet) would pro-
poet: would be this—that a requisition should then be drawn up
send signed, calling on the Sheriff to call the county immediately
.ibr the purpose of considering the question of reform ; but if he
should refuse to comply, why then, after the business for which
they had assembled was ended, iey might go into the room
'opposite (the asserrthly room at the Spread Eagle), and there the
primer of the Sheriff' would, notwithstanding the Six Acts, be at
end.—(Cheers.)—They might there call a chair, and agree
toany resolutions or petitions on the subject of Reform which
they might think proper. But while they had the oppo:tur.ity
of doing this, they ought not, he submitted, to neglect the one
„list then before nfiem, of agreeing to apetition to Parliament on
toe cause of, and the remedy for, the distresses of which they
omnplained. The petition before them complained of the excessive
weight of taxation, and of the exorbitant and unnecessary ex-
penditure of the public money, and it prayed for economy and
Fetranchment. Now lie implored of the meetino• not to forego
the opportunity of sending the. petition to Parliament," as it
'orotild not at all interfere with any resolution to which they
mighhafterwards come on the subject of reform. That eco-
oemy and retrenchment were necessary, no one would deny.-
11.'he country was just in that state when such measures must
bee pressed, if it was intended to save it from destraction.—
Vhe were like a man whose estate was burdened .with
debts ; he must, if he intends to act honestle, dismiss those
servants whom he carinot afford to keep—he must have a smaller
retinue ; and if he cannot afford even one servant, must learn
to wait upon himself.—( Hear, hear.)—ln short, a man so cir-
cumstanced, who expects to support a character, must do away
with every superfluity until he is in a condition to pay for it.—
It-should be so with the country ; there was an accumulation of
debt and a load of taxes too heavy to be borne : the remedy
was— retrench and economize ; and until those measures were
aaopted, all others would be useless. It would be quite absurd,
in the absence of such measures, to talk of reduction of the in-
terest of the national debt. He himself was not a fundholt'er :
he wished he was ; but he would say, that to talk of a reduc io •
of the interest of the debt, the striking out of any part of the in•
west or capital, dr any other revolutionary measure, would oc
madness and injustice, while there was an expenditure of a single
penny which was not necessary, to the Country.—(Cheers.)—lf
that strict economy should not do, why then some other must'be
resorted to ; for the people and the country must live.-
4-le world nut have those who' had property in the funds,
lay the flattering unction to their souls," that they had.
a mortgage upon the land, and he might say, the lives of
those who possessed prOperty in land. They had a guarantee,
only, upon the consolidated fund; let that pay, as far as it
went, or as far as the country could afford ; but if that were
pressed faether—if it was sought to drain their. of their last
penny to support a lavish and unnecessary expenditure—if their
..property was to be so called upon, he would only say for one,
tnat God had giyen him anarm, and he would use it in the de-
thnce of his property whilst •he had life. (Loud cheering.)—
lie most happy on the present occasion to see so large and
so apectahle an assemblage of the county: This was the second
time that he had had. the honour of being present at a county
meeting of Surrey. He would wish they were more frequent.
lie wished to see them annual, or even oftener; for he conceived
that the greatest advantage would result from them. On the
present occasions- he sincerely hoped the meeting would not
throw away the opportunity which they had of.expressing their
sentiments. He trusted they wouldfirst agree to the petition'
which they had heard read, and after that, they might assem-
ble on the subject of reform without the fear of the slightest I.
disturbance.
Air. COEBETT made a long speech, with which tre do not
choose to incumber our columns.
Mr. LEECH now addressed the Sheriff, and trusted he would
net decide upon rejecting the resolution which he had to pro-
pose, without at least hearing it.
The hints SISEILIFF hoped he was too well known to have
it imagined that he would decide- hastily, or without strOng -
grounds for his decision. In the present case lie had made up
his mind ; he was there the judge of what was or was not releh
vent teethe cbject of the meeting, and he decided according to
the best of ids judgment: and he would not swerve from the
opinion he had given. He would not put the resolution, as 'lie
conceived, according to the words of the Noble Lord (King),
that it would be a fraud on the county.
Mr. LE Ec *4lll pressed :the reading of the resolution. He
was displayed, he said, to abide by the decision of the Sheriff,
as he had no doubt it was conscientiously given. The Hon:
Gentleman then read the Resolution, which was as follows :
" Resolved, That it appears to this meeting that Mr. Hume
Reduced documents in the last session of Parliament, clearly
proving that the public expenditure; both foreign and domestic,
admitted of retrenchments to a very large amount, in despite of
which,. all the propositions submitted by him to effect this de-
sirable object were negatived' by great majonties of the House
of-Commons, thereby tanking still more manifest that the cor-
ps state of the repratellshon of the people IS the real cause of