The Sun.
London, England, 1810-10-23 00:00:00

111E.ATING ril. the J Wilill'ANT6' of 2,

Yesterday, pursuant to the order of the High
Sitelilt in rung. xpence ot the requisition of a num.
her of gentlemen, a respetlable though nor very nu-
merous Meeting of the Inhabitants of the County
took place at Maidstone. The High Sheriff :,rrived
at one O'clock, and in opening the business addressed
the Meeting to the following e 2
Gentlemen—l had the honour to call th:s Meet-
ing of the Inhabitants in consevt-nce of a requisi-
tion delivered to me by Sir Wtn. Geary, whica the
Sub-Sneriti will, read to
.you. I trust that, tor . t lie.
honour of the County, you will give an impartial
hearing to every geutletuan who may think it neces-
sary to address you upon this occasion."
The. Sub-Sheriff having read ,he requisition,. th,
High Sheriff:4pin rose, ,and said, thatle had ftirtn,r
to iufortn the meeting, that he had received a httur
from t heir worthy representative, , Mr. H met wood,
to this effem, 11)4 when he :had signed the lequisi
Lion, he kid hoped to be able to attend ,the wooing
ai it was his chity to do,
_but that from tote effect
of repeated attacks of the gout re ently, he telt him-
Sell unable to attend. He trusted, therefore, that hi.
Constituervis would accept tiii& as an
.apology tor his
absence; ant beg4edatibe tittle to ae,
in. or out 0; Pariiatueut be ahouid ever be a triend
to Ref tm.

. Mr, HODGES then came forward, and said, that
he believed di opinion to,be now uuttersally enter-
tained, that something beyond the common, the
Mere ordinary Change of Alinistrrs, VL as indispetisa •
bly necessary tor the Ovation of the That
expedient of c 'anging t.ie administration had beta
wed over. and over again, du'ring the.present, rt igii ;
and yet, tor. a ,:orisid,:rable number of years, the con-
dition of ,the empire, bad been uniformly on the de- '
dine. M‘ireover, it was I,etlectly obvious, that the
great body of the people was iodiffrent. as to the
vesti m who were Ministers. To whit catr,e, then.
was this indiffereEce, tespetting the per?ons compos-
,ing the Adtmoistration, this want of confidence'in
public men, to be :'scribed ?. it was unquestionably.
nut' owing to.aity want of talents, bec.a4se within the
last ,50
.there had been .freqUently, in the
adfifinistratton persons of the 'highest talents and
the .most accomilished minds. Na to any want
of talents, then, but, to the lamentable *ant of
public honesty was this indiffqetice of the pt ople
to be.attributed. What. that great Statesman Lord
"Camden hat said of his time, more
Plied to the present Period :—that Cons,itut:onal
authority declared, " that sach was the want of con-
fidence in public men, that the Miniiters-ot the day
might pursue whatever measures they pleased 'With-
out restraint, and'oenceforth defy alt opposition."
The country was now buffeting the consequences
which 'that great man !FA Si' long since predicted.
'lt they were without any lawful remedy 'for the
evils they complained of, they might Well despair:
But they wete not without a remedy, legal and con-
stitutional—a remedy all-sulticient tor their Objett,
and of true English growth. He conjured them,
therefor.:, not to cease to employ the ineAns
them by the constitution and the laW, till they.snoald
obtain such a reform as would tutanclpate Parliament
from Ministerial bondage, and plate represen-
tation of the people on such 'a footing as would •
prevent
,the recurrence of the degraded and dan-
gerous situation to which the cothitry had already
been unfortunately reduced. The object for which
they had been that day ccriverted, was to promote a
reform such as heliad described. To such a reforth,
however, some objected 'as unnecessary, whilst

[l,g.kt srxitNcE ItAL.tptNNY.

others considered it as dangerous novelty. As to
the objedion„ that it was a dangerous :n he
negged of the, meeting tocall to in tod hat had been
the sentiments of many great' men a difFereot periods
upon this subject. The- ori4 Chatham had ut.
tried a prediction "that tt a northern borouglersteould
not survive the la.t crime). ; And that if the House
of Commons shotild return) hs,lf within,
would, be reformed with a v,utgeance from wit hoko."
In addition ti this aotinnity, they had the state=
went of the sun it that treat man (the laves Mr.
Pitt), in
.1785, "that without a parliament :Ty re-
form, the nation -would b. in% civet -in ne., wars ;
that without a ruforth in Parliament the vountry
would not be save agajeSt ba I ministers, :nor could
good ministers be Of any use." The cv,nis rif the
last twenty years furnished the best com:reotary on
that prediction. But what had Sir Win, Bl.uAstone;
whom no•per,on could accuse of enter raining demo.,
craticsemiinents, said upon the stibjeOt Tiiat learned
authority had stated, that the spirit of the liri-
fish ' Constitutiona required a :lithe extended re•.
presem ati,n of the people in p.-irliair:crit. But what
was soil more, an authority no %.%:3r inlet ior its any !At
had :tuoted, a man, Who.for Pc‘vers of mind and
foice of. genius was not inferior to any, (Sir Wil=
liam Jones), h d declared himself decidedly in fa.
your of a reform io.Parliament, and bequeathed to
his country one of the most excellent of his .works
in support of this national question. He could not
suppose, therefore, .after the authorities he had re-
ferred to, that any question could b.! made as to
the necessity of rtfortn. If he were to go into
this part cf the subject, however, a boundless
field would be presented to him ; but it was not
his was!, unnecessarily to occupy the time- of the
Meeting, and therefore he should not trespass upon
their patience longer- titan Was indispensable lit Dos
der to make then) acquainted with his sAttitrtenti
on this inipottant subject. O. e observa ion, I.ow.
ever, he could not forbear to make, and that was,
to ask those who heard him, Whether :l;ey could
consider their property or lib:trties secure, whilst
the Minister of the day had a rev,:nue of set entv
millions at his absolute disposal, and without any of
those actual and efficient check's, Wt: ich were hitherto
erroneou:ly supposed to exis, ? As to theouesCon
of reform, howeter, many persons asserted, that
an institution which hid uxisted ter so tn.-,ny rt,es
ought not to be altered; but 1;4, his own part, he
Considered the constitution as coinees..d, like
trio
'W•eas--", ti')lftqiteb:toeiraiLil';
human frame, of two princi
and of the form. The spirit
fixed, and unalterable; bat tile okeisioes of form
might be modified; and what hand of time
may have changed, the hard of wis,:orn ought
h was by ti') ,oebinys, Jive
to correct. When Sir Francis Bordett hid brought
wind
forwaw his plan teat Pariiaineetiry Reform, 'it bad
been objeted to as too .Ipoz.-nal, and not at
ail suited tu the eircumstauteS of the t.ines. Mr.
gitelli'Ll;;loPrMtP:l.Se.l.llS°ilVl:, had 'beet, a:so rejeiteit
House of Commons : yet, the great complaint of-the
people was 1101 that 1: is pia,., or. gist ohm of Reform
had been rejected, bit., din the House of COm•
mons. altrige her refused to enter i the ds.
cussion'of tiit ynt's'ion. 'But he to.sied, that. not
only the 'county of Kent, but a Ithent-it r comi-
ties in the' king loin, would it, the .4e.
form of al existing abuses. It was hi own lima
opinion, that no plait 01 reform which had been pro-
per since that of 'M r. Pitt-cool I b are be. r, aoopte
ed witheett producing gten Outilicbe,tetit. Fur him-
idt,:he could 's my, lira, in the, part he took upon this-
ocias.-on, he was riot attnatel by. any private incl.-.
ttve ; and-be h to lament that. the task had not
taden into abler hands; If they should be
g'atifiedin "he gnint of what they sought ninon this
occasiou,'nothiog More woald be 'wanted to haunt
the pr6'sp6ity of the couti,ry ; and he could net put
this mstterin a stronger light, than by quoting the
COncluditig part of an address of the. House of Com-
. mons, in the year t 783 ; " that the King of Great
Britain can have no more perfra security for his
ewe n, than the soppOrt of an independent and una.
Influenced House of Coalitions!" He concluded
by moving the petitioth

Mr. lionoasthen read the petition, which, in sub.
stance, stated, that the meeting approvel of the ori-
ginal design of convening the represent:tilt/es of the
people, to deliberate and co- operatewi t h the Sovereign
' and the Peers upon every question of nati4nal con.
cern ; but when they considerered the decay of some.
boroughs, the heavy etipence of eleaicts, which
cl :s.d the door of Parliament against many oft behest
ftiends of their country—when they thought of these
',tiring% they were of opinion that the Honourable
House was not a fair reptesentatiou of the people;
and from the manner in which a large ponizin
of the Members secured seats in the I-Luse of
Commons they inferred that that high sacred
office, intent.led for the putnic service, was Ire•
yiently sought for and procured by u,leonstitutional
means, and too often perverted from its htlginal
design, and rendered subservient to privpte
The petiriot then adverted to the mensthes and ex-
peditions of the present Adminisration, and de-
plored particularly the rejeettun of Mr. !hand's mom
tion, last se,sion, respecting P.lrlia,nentaly
It concluded by_ intreating the Hon. Ft,iise to on•
dertike, before it should be too late, tne measure,
of retoi in, upon principles, which, by-conciliating
the people, nay restore to the House its due wvight
and charatter,Tescue the country from eoinestic Lk-
c‘urd, and secure it against toreign foes; at the
satne time, rendering the Coustimutnon ptspeftial.
Mr. FooTs. then ruse and said (i Gende.men, :met
the very able manner in which this bosine,s has ht-en
opened bk. my worthy It tend who ha, just addressed
pin, little remains for tne to say, but to go throul)
the customary rain of sttenuously and culdiailly