The Sun.
London, England, 1821-01-20 00:00:00

7‘4
SATinIIDAY, J ANUARY.2O, 1821.

COSSTITLTTIONA ASOCIATION.

At a MEETINI.4. of the coNsTrrunaNAL AssociA.,
'FION for OPPOSING the PROGRESS of DISLOYAL ati,l
PRINCIpLES; held on FRIDAY, the 2-2 J of
IDt•einher,lB2o:-.lt the NINE'S I.I.EAD TAVERN, in the
POULTRY, LONDON;
Sir•JOHN S.EAVEEti,-N.NT.1.:694n the Chair; •
was Unakimouily .Resolvbd to circulate
'among the Members and Friends of the Assueidtilqi the
following

Ai)t)RESS.

The prevalence of disloyal .and _seditious • prineiplee, to a •
grerit and alarming extent, among certain classes of our let-
low-subjects,,is nuhappitr too notorious et. the, present time
to admit of doubt or discussion.
• PosSessing, as Ibis nation does, a.Constitution which is t lie
envy and admiration of tht- world—at peace mill every-other
count ry--.ceivereffwith the,glories of- along, an arduous, and
a triumphant .contest—enjoying an .impartial Administration-
ofJoinice—and subjected to theemild and paternal Gl;verfri
men; of aTatriiStic. Sovereigoeit migist.have. iwen hoped tbat
all tanks -and ,orje4.o of men wouliVhave be; 4uttible
gratitude far such unexanipled bleSsings- to the Almighty and
Merciful Disposer of liutuan events..
But. that this is .far frorn beinVirecaitif;aind that, on t con-
trary, a spirit of, hostility exists against oor most sacred and
estimable Institutiog.s, 'we have only to appeal to the uni-
form testimony-of thisse• numerous loyal.. Addresses which
have of late been laid at-the font of the Throne Vy-Corpora-
tionsor Meetings of Individuate. Framed by bodies of Men
in different and distant parti of the kingdom, without con-
cert or- comm Unicat ion, and containing- opinions -drawn.
from actual observation' and conviction,- these Address's io-
dispirtably..prove at once the lamentable existence of the evil
and its fearful -extent;--they prove that it menaces not the
predomnianceof this or that.party in the: State, but the safety
of the State itself; not the separate interests of this yr •that
class of men, but the liberty, the property, -the security of
A.ll.
The Conseqtiences which have already resulted from this
perversion of public, principle, are -but too obvious. Among-
them are to be numbered, a daily weakening of the bonds of
union between the hombler ranks of society and their natural
•guaraliani and protectors—insultordinalto*ng—disregard of
tilt laws, and frequent attempts to obstrtiet their opi,ration—
increase of crimes—denunciations of hatred towards the
-greatest and best men in the coinitry—mockery of Religion—
querulous impatience of all contretll and Testraint—vain and
;ostentatious contempt of all sound learning7;"exPrtiencet and
• knowledge—interruption of the courses of • honest indoSti y
--and derangement of, the great concerns and enterprises of
she nation.
The Causes of the evil arc no less apparent t it may be dfs-
tinctly traced to the niacin's stions of a comparatively small
number of individuals. These persons act partly by means
of the turbulence and excitement ,of meetings,- fit -
which the most unfounded and inflamtnattny speeches are de-
norea and partly stiroorb the medium of a liCulitiOUS Press,,
which, without excepting even the day of sacred rest, loon-.
dates the notion with an unexampled isrofusion of slanderous,
seditiotts and blasirlientonspitlilications. : s ,
The mischevions activity of the popular agitators has not
been capricious or transient : they, have pursued their entire
systematically; and the iefluence which they have acquired
over the minds of the leSs,infolnied classes of iiiiiety• has for
several years been regularly and rapidly:int.:re:lo,lg'. if it
bas occasionally-ceased to attract publieattent ion. it has ap-
peared at every new manifestation:more formidable; it loss
been nourished by. every • art a hich a pernicious iris Anioity
could devise; and it tins misted in its tarOot every personal
feeling of its ignorant and deluded victims. •
The Press, that great and invaluably' blessing of civilized.
Ille—.that. 'Mighty engine for ill*ff.,l-ing the light of Liberty
and of the Cospel—has tinle'.'Peily become, iii the hands of
evil turn, a lever to shake the-very foondations of social acid
moral order. Its power, which within the last century has
• beerronatipl,l eel alt fruffifivel fOrittit4tran 'tee altirrust
to reign paramount in the geo.latiee of: prthliv opinion; and
to those friends of tlivir coioory deelil3"ni this
fact,. .it Cannot- lint be matter of. serious alarm to iihserve
that a Very urge proportion of our periodical publications is
under the direction either of avowed enemies of the Consti-
tution, or of-persons whose sole -principle of action is their
ownyrNate and selfish interest. tity these, and-by occasional
writees of a like character and description, every artifice is
employed,with daily increasing boldness, to render the people.'
discontented with the Goverikritent, and disobedient the -
Law's: to persuade thein.hat theyare betrayed by' tbdse
should.proteet them ;, to seduce them from 'their !feet
• and all egiatice to their, SoVereign; and, finally, to brine
t about a Ilevolutiun-, to winch (lioweet r it might gratify or
enrich themselves and their associatei) the wealth, the pros-
perit vOlie inter,tal happiness, and the political greatness of
the Empire, must inevitably be sacrificed.
And it is*elear't hat isOlated; exertion, wituld he
uttenly ioaderinate to. Cope with Jill the evil enert.,,it's 11.0 W
arr,y,d against ptil,lie; order and the pitblie peace; so it is
to .be feared, that the Government and Legislature:them.-
selves might find the•contest ititfitiult, without the active,
zeiiluuk, acid persevering co•operatiOn of -the loyal and well-
disposed part of, the community,; which cu-operation, to he
effectual, must be the result of a regular and systematic Union
of individrials,
,Persuade'd that bY.these niearis alouj tho*Piogress of sedi-
tious prinei.pleii can be arrestedi and feeling that to serest it,
if possible, is theltontiilen deity of titer:, good subject and
sinerre.'potriot ;- the :Members of. this Society ,have adnpted
thefollowing Itesillutioms
Ist. 'That they will rise their best exertions to: Maintain
melee, attel to,sopport thejdoe.excention of the Laws.
• ed. 'fiat they will ertiony fttii•ii)tlyence, individuaillrand
collectively, in dit:conoteoancing and opposing the disseutina,
lion Of seditious
3d. 'That they will, encourage persons of integrity and
lie-
lent in the Literary Wiold to exert their abilities in confot-
*nig the. sophistries, dissipating the illusions, and exposing
the falsehoods, which-are employed by sidled and designing
men to mislead the peoples.- -
-4th. That they will, resort to such lawful measures as may
be deemed expedient to restrain the ilitiblishing and 'circulat-
ing of seditious and, treasonahlelihels,
wislong that, the lieention'stier;i- of the *Press shOirld be
restraiiied, this Association is:itetriateil by a sincere desire to
secure the tree Liberty. of stir Press—that liberty which sub-
sists.only tinder the protecting .shield of laws and whit-h is
sate to he one of the first samilices inade In a Political Revii-
lotiOn. Such a titlerty is al).s.litti,ly ineinnitatible With the
Pl*Oent licentiousness ; ;Intl the one most. soon destroy the
other. The .alterrititive, howeter, is -yet before Ike• nation.
The MtiOers of this Seen:Ls' have no wish to presci ibe limits
to disesis.simi, nor even harSlifs to &nsinailhe eiceSsei of an
honest tlionit't. roistaitin 7e,kl;. but tliere • are
-publications
(and unfortuinteely many of these eirentiiited among, the la-
binning classes are iif this description), on the'criminality
of cchich,not-ational dinitit tan tie entertained._ These.(NUTliS
consist almost Whobyrif senrririiets slanderS, and of the*innst
faiie and inflammatory statements respecting public institu-
tions and public men; they abeund with pin siqsal eaßnitily,
and of direct ItiCiteti,enta to .vin!enyeartil crime. In short,
they are in% eterateiy Itustile to public and 'privaie virtue, and
favourable onky :to* what ever :tends.ln diegrad, def,a-
inataind., All that is estimable in the country wimil hr ite.:
n,•fifeh by their suppiessiiiiii and not ItingSvould be 'so much
improved :mil elevated as the Piess .
This ASsiieiation is established its 'the broad -principle, not
of supporting this
.or that Admioistratitm, but of opposing
the attempts now madelo oS'erthrow-the Civil t istitiittuns of
the State, Qthee. Societies have for- some tine existed, for
the Ip-ideation of Religion and Nitirals ; butt with the excep-
tion of a few Liteal Association', the'present is.the only (ins
exelpsively dest imid to lie eery inipektant object of opposing
the 'progress of Disloyalty ,ind Stiiitieni. In Order to sataiii
this end, it has been di tirinined—.
1. To est,blisb a Fund, tt the voluiit4rY contritiofie,,s of
the Members, at soch rate as each iniliriduat may thin-;:
2. To appoint a CiiinchitteC for..cc;tilucting-the business of
111eSTheiciy. ,
3. To ni!opt sy,tern of (irrespondencei with those MemL
hers Who live at a distaikee, and with r-oieli Associations -.1,s
inay.be co-operate in promoting the same objects..
Most earnestly, -therefore,--does this Society sill upon all
slien of all ranks and of all }milt ;cal parties, upon all to whom
Oilmaintenance_ of civil and religions. liberty is" dear, iipOn
all who value the-internal peace of the country, rei the .per-
tif the BiltisitFanpire, to join them a -siren-lions
endeavour to stem the torrent of those disorganising and de-
moralising principles, which would level to the dust the
fabric of the Constitutiri and bury under its twins all the