The Sun.
London, England, 1817-03-29 00:00:00

anent of their grievances, and thus reduce the iln
trortance and power and privileges of the ,House ,
of, Commons.. Heetented that,any, thing:huel oe,
cnrted, since the .Bill hecleleft. than House', . to in:.
elece the passing 'of rois'ciance-, and he caneepded
that it ought tint to be 'sanctioned.' Helm! heard
Of ifri disturbance wtiatevcr at ally of the Meetings '
Palace-yard. He therefore called on the Itottse
to support the 'rights, of the people. Had not the
'power of the Crown eeadrupled within the last
31) years, anti was there no dueger to the Consti-
tution from this increased innueUce which per.
vatted every class of Society ? It was perfectly
Consistent with the conduct of the'friends of this
pill not to support this clause. It was in his
opinion tehigh innovation on the Constitution,
and an insult to the .People of ‘Vestminster, and
.thercforteheshotild oppose. it.
Mr. J. WARD hairedthat . the right of peti-
ttioning :would not at all be interferedd-with by the.
Clause, and it was-no in.oovatiOn, But was it not
an object• to prevent this House front insult? It
v•nts,reserved for the present age to represent the
11,,,0n5e as degraded, end inimical to the rights of ;
e people. The insulting. of the Menthers as
they go to it, was, peibaps, reserved till the great
'eve of Retorne. But it was not for the sake of
;the Members, but of the people themselves, •that
Parliatuentlntetfered. He was convinced, that
his clause diet With tire apFobation of the fur
greater part of the House, and he should give it
his cordial apprnbatinn, because he felt'it neces-
sary to protect the House front the insults which
the .conduct of popular leaders exposed.. it to. .
BsouGnsat protested against being one of
the rnijiirity. ellutled.to 1).,;• the-Hon. Gentleman•
lie waS 0F opinion that there Must be bounds 'to
amendutenti matte bv theoLords, otherwise the
door would open tre.rentler a Bill going (rem this
House being; torelly: altered. This aniendment did
not even apply to the .title. of the Bill: they had
legislated on an aet.which they•ditl-not pretend to
.denominate Seditious Asiendaties dt all ; and it
was a mockery to introduce such amendments
for they had made it ate., Act: AO disettaiity the
Electors of ‘Vestiniuster front exereiiing their
an-
cient constitutional privilege in the usual place of
'their meeting. The meanest of a Man's. light
could not be interfered with without allowing hi► t.
the right of alspettling•4lg•Wist it. by Counsel.--
Wee this,. thee, fair dealing wit?! the people, of
Westminster, or with the Aletise i• • lie would
venture to say, there was ne precedent of such
alterations as these in the 'history of Pattie.-
ment„ and was. this aotase,:to• bend with implicit
obedience to the Heiuse•of Lords ? No meeting,
for petitioning could tiow.he held wit hout.the con..
trout of Magistrates, Bat why not make such a
clause as. this a. separate Bill, to prevent pebli6:
Meetings being held ,withie one mile of the House
'of Commons ? Iri one word, could 'at, iesteiree be,
.found of such an Anrendment,au&of this House
iteelf 10 be pressed into n: geeing. keit
without ? What Mighty &tiger could
.arise from .delaying ias consideration till after the
Irtilidites'?"ThewholeYdanger would consist'
itt ano-
ther Westminster! Meeting. The only ettestion
was, whether the. proximity of those Meet ines;lialf
at ell itnerrnpted the Courts of Law or diet-louses
of Parthument ?' Not at all. He-wished the Chi.'
nuns of Lortdon tai taka- carer how they. ellowed
this precedent to be established, as their• Meetings
were held under the satne roof witicthe• Coot is of
Justiee. He could riot think this clause was mune
.with a. befie fide good will ()wards the, Courts' of
-Justice' gerierelly,'-ae. it left those Courts unprole
tested Which' rivere most exposed. • The.elause,on
the whole, ties So clumsily worded, as to defeat the
. perpose for Which- it was intended. He-worth( arty,,
610'4 the 818 pawed; it would not prtveht any
greeting an pretence of eOUSidering the (gin-els:ls'
(Ohs people. It 'was; therefore nugatory, timid he
apposed it on aceoitut of its absurdity. Men'
might often show a disposition to- injuee and- in-
sult,-though they were too bungling to•do It with
chest. tie entled on the House to pause before,
,they abandoeed and ahtikated the privileges that
helongedtp:thern. The House =hould not: be too
delieate.towards•the Courts of Law. There uv,,te
-is mete who, with propriety., might 'be stigmatized
as one of the greatest stains ort ,vh;te country, who
liectime the idol of the people, :They looked upv
.to and-soppperted his cause on tic-
count,df Itieltelog the first object of cippreisime,
anti they surrounded the Court of Just fee.- But
•how, did the great anti verierebleJettfge. of that
time conduct ) • Not by applyi .g to Par-
liament for a Bill like this. He: pursued, asteady
course, and left the people to the coercion of those
ltuvV's which his fathers had handed doves to hint.
At that time the Whole of the metropolii appear:-
ett to be in 'agitation nv).-ens knew whether their
:idol was to be discharged or carried beck to
; and in this alarm; crowds filled the' alenues
and the Whole space 'of gremul that inclosed
Westminster Hall. These were mobs whiCh
beggared all comparison with those we. hail
lately seen. But what did Lord' Mans.-
field do ? He instantly. ordered ;all the doors
awl witulows_. of the. Court to he 4Leeseen
often, that the whole Multitude might see I
him sit in justice. No sooner had, this taken
place, than a dead calm ensured, and. then be.,gave
that 'fine deciiion which showed the people that
all such tumultuous efforts were spent ngainst
hint, and that he was' determined to do Iris duty;
even it it tech to the lois'of, huts life. A man who
eOuld make the address he now entitled tp, might
ctinfidently appeal to the *Ober sense of the-peo-
ple, ben% sore that be contd. find strfticient roe
tection in his own The Honourable and
Learned Gentleman, atter expatiating, on the in-
disposition of the people Aeoeratly, -to insult 'the
Honses• hf Parliameut er • the COUrte of Justice,
even during tire progress .of the Corn Bill, eon-
, eluded Witli decisively protestieg against the elatise
in question.. .
• Mr: CANNING' contended that .not one of the
ohjectiOns which the Learned and
Gentleman had urged had any fouuttatiott. . The
, Gentleman., .who beemvd ti) see farther into
the dark and,' intricate Conduct of the Iloit3e of
Lords than any one •else, conceived that that
House had•stole iz mareleon ter Ithe Commons),
had annihilated. our •privileges, end become sole
legislators themselves.. • if such idea,-conid have
any, foundation, a blacker design.never wet enter-
: tanned:. But he did not believethat it was &plot
of the House of Lords to extinguish the fithetions

"of- the !louse of Crinittons.—(Laughteri and
Hear, hear 1,•)7---The—RIghtOn, Geutleman.pre-
everled to retie w't ,di'iVcrtni • at'oonents that. hid
;Recto used against the Chnis'e, and oserreii;:tht I
of priviltige woUld hate been'stift!;
riently Mtcircled. to by the- anthorhv of the 'Chair: I
The anni;e. su'ely.ltat! toll aksuraoce that 'if tt;ir
,wisdour, 'which Rio nil oce,,,ions watched n.ver, its
Privileges,, ban seen the same objections to this*
as the liOnotirable tientleinan, it' Would
haveinterpoSed,,and,all d,sen,siusts 'on. it wOuld
h
ave been glared. it
,''wins varianie
the preamble ; the; *hole Melt-fore and' step'',
Of the Bill being to preyent asseirMic4Abt-
ing called for other, ohjeCts' than
'pretend'ed. liwas to prevent,thoSetticetingg'itn-
der Which theeountry)Old so' long heett smarting-I
and trentbling—Aleciings. Which were conVened'
for the purpose of "discussions that were appHea-
.hie to be turned` to seditious objeCts. PF:e
of LcirJa; at leaat; Were not responsible- flit. the
insertion of the word' " beelaratiou," fOr they-
had orily.copied it .from theprearuble. If; them-
,fore, any Meeting to which this pzyticidar clause
was. liable to be turned. to the, peculiar
purposes of (flinger, it was one which came,
with the whole scope and purpose of the Rill. It
never/could be too often repeated, that it was.
.not the disposition of the people that Parliament
in question ;—(llcar, hear, hear !)---bat-
that peculiar disposition of their deluders—that
'predisposition of the popular leaders to irritate
.and deceive them. .Suppose the meeting in Spa
fields, had been culled iu Palace-yard, anti that
b-lOths of that meeting ..consisted of peFsons per-
fev ly innocent of any seditious intention ; but
they might be liable to be wrought up Jo purposes
of sedition.. 'Would it have been nothing if they.
had been excited to turn at once into the CoOrts. of
Law and the Rouses OfParliament , instead of rush-
ing into the City? Would it have been nothing if
'they had had their prey pointed out to them ? It so
and directed to such s course, ..the.tnis-
chiefs might have been irreparable. 4'urely.the
Hon.. and Learned 'Gentlemen could not beserlOus
in comparing thii clause to the nature of a private
13111,
.where the partiett might be .heard by counsel
with regard to:private property. It was true, that
at the time of the Corn 13111 there was a mob with.
.out a. mee!ingT but it be. equally possible
that a Meet ing' might .not prelude; the proceedings-
of anitib. The. lion, Oentlernatt gad alluded to
the conduct .of Chief Jnstiee,lll,:ii•iidd, %rho had
pronounced a judgment consonant with the pm-
-14°1.47 of the mob. But there was no great:mai,,
naaimity its liii. declaring he would-ctie at his post,
when, tie kneW this was precisely the course that
w hold make the mob shout in his favour: It was
to prevent the. danger from a 11104 PreVinnSlV
in-
furiated that the clause. was inteinkil, as a safe-
:guard for Parliament.and the Courts of'.ltistice.
Tire Lion Citl)iltuunn; had alluded to ;rte- popular
t.letiiiigogo,e- of, a former period, al/114049 ishitsted,
in character as, Nr. Wiftcsl but he.wtss surprised
that, When he consiilered the nature of thesub-
ject to, whieli his atkentinn. had tro long been
turned, he Should hareexpressed any ver‘a.riou At
Ur, Wilkes. that .gotlut the. popular- i•k
the time, not being it tl!Mi of an exceiletit einirucw
ter, Why, when was it other st Ise ?. Lct. as
heArch.,l4to all the hi-stories of autfiptity atol'lrro.
dem-0 times, and trace out ail.. tl,a; tielki3ions... by.
which nationi been.
and he wouldidety any man to ihcw a-littgle in-
sta where the dark. plotters and Cat ilinian corr.
•spiritors hail been teen, of fair and blanteles.'s rhos
racier, the .1-lout. dent:ernao could find such
an instxrick..., he' might..talk with More consistency,
in reFubivion ut. the _cluiracter of Wilkm.
But Wilkes was not a- ,solitaryThcvnix of •Seir“i-
-r 0 LIS ileruAirguits,: he. was the atitiltt.tDf the shire,:
and representative of them all.--(Laroghing..and
.hear, hear !)--to gitard. against- any 'attackaion:
the emporium And -workshops' of ourlamisi,this
clause, waN introduced, and. he gate it. his contial
support,. as he did the whole, of the Dill, which
:he helieved in his conscience to be called for. by,
the pressing irml. peculiar exigencies of.the. times.
(Loud cheering.)
M r...11.1t0tY 4tt exploited. . .

PONSONDY thought Mr. Wilkes haul grea‘
,
merit with the people of. England,-
~laid delerreut
the support he received. ;Could, we, ft‘get,
he supported the liberties of the by. put-
ting an end to General Warrants ? The judgment
of Lord Mansfield itt reversing the outlawry was
generally approved of ;• but he bad twice liOnte
convicted him, and his judgment; was,apptitived of
in all the public assemblies. The. tieclainatiolitd
the Right Honourable. Crentlemad against Dema-
gogues-and Jacobins bath in ppinion,,nothing
to. do with. the subject. He was, surprised, that the
Chair and the House had not seen this clanger,bul,
left• it for the Lords to find it out, who sent down
tire clause to be debated ,at once. He did not
complain of. it as *l4 attack on the privileges of the
Unuse, but as a-departure from the plain objects of
the Bill sent up to them. 1-I.e also objected'to
mixing the Courts of Just ice wills Pat litonent , as no
one insult had- been offered to `the TOrnier even in
Lot 4 George Gordon's time, or /lowa to the pro-
gress of the 'Corn lint even it there had
been riots, wire the House of Lords justified in'
sending.. down such Amendments ? This .w.ts a
subject that concerned the people more tban it (lid
the Peerage for none of the Parliamentary Re-
formers, whatever they might have said ‘about the
House of Commons,had ever or:ticked the Peerage.
Ile knew not, therefore, why they stelipsd- out of
their way to protect. lie House of Counnons,-and
he was nor disposed to thank the Honse of LtiOdi
.for extending, over us,-whets we had 'uOt
thought ourselves in danger. The clause %t-,at1y..7
pat liamcntary, And on this ground he s.boottl vote
against
,it.

Sir W. ButtnouGuet (die new Alenfber for Col-
eh-ester), in q maiden apeeth isf smile Itrigth, de-
clared Ili, firm- belief of tire existence of a treason-
able' einispir4cy,agrdnst,titc Goverintrent the
C onst hut ion, by, in isehievAs ilefit of tr.,
people. No man • could doubt this tocr
%Tim tad read tie iteports. The extent and na-
ture of the danger was fully before ns, on wives-
tionable.evidenee ; and eVLIy 1111111 Who regiqvierl
-the. Constitutioo ottgbt to. conselit to 4001K11)4'!
the hands of m (invernent, ruigh!.o4kfle,?,
fended,against-the projtetett niischiaG. lie•kberst.,
fore approved of this Bill, 'nil titose that ha,d
passed is conncetion wilt it Lefore be seAt.