The Sun.
London, England, 1821-01-19 00:00:00

FOR TIM SUN.

MORPETH MEETING.

MR. EDITOR.---No doubt ere this letter reaches
town, you will have seen an account of the Mor-
peth Meeting in our County Paper's, but as local
.motives may perhaps induce our provincial Edi-
tors to speak more tenderly of the proceedings
of this Meeting than they ought, I trust a few
observations upon it from an individual, who
was a silent but attentive spectator of all that
occurred, may not be' unacceptable to -you.
I -viiii.atot -conceal from von, Sir, the feelings_
--with...-which
_I-tittered the °Town Ihll of Alor-
.ponfess, that I went there impressed
;with. the• dis . conviction that the Mee-ting was
•
. .
nOt..cpnvened .to .viudicate. our 'constitutional
,stiggest- , any -.scheme - for relieving
the ,distresses-; of -.ourShipping,. Commercial, or
.lA•grj4Ultntalrnterests, bta merely,to promote the
aphitious and selfish views of the -Whig Faction ;
and:j--think that,the Iteport of the Speeches of
Lord c'trgy, Jilf, son-in-law, Mr. 13.1318T0N, and
Air. BvAtiaioN.T.l.-.,wip, convince- you, that :I, way
not mi'AtaYel) in, view of the motives which,
...infltience4 the It.equisi.tors. For,:upon carefully
reconsitiering
.the proceedings of the day, I can-
,not find, that a,ny.thing beyond-_a Milt was thrown
out,.upoty any subject,ithat was not directly- and
:palpably calculated ta, smooth the path of- the
Whigs to, p.over -and office.. The question of
Palliarnentari*eform was only cursorily intro-
diteedby LOrd GREY, who, hugging himself in
the idea:gr.-his:near advance to an eminent post
in the GOvernseent of .the Coutitry, coldly de-
clared, that he was not so sanguine upon it_as
he was in his youth." Indeed it does not occur
to me, that Lord GREY anti his associates intro-
d.uced any other . subject than his Lordship's
great merits; and his fitness for the conduct of
public affairs, which they illustrated by vilifying
-'the CLERY, and asserting the QUEEN'S inllo-

cerice.
The itecoisitors called it. a County Meeting.
If it was a' County Meeting, it was most thinly.
attended. Very few ev-411 of the Itequisitors
were there, and
.amongst 'the 600 persons who
filled the Hall " scarcely 'One third were Free.-
holders, of whom three duly were 'Magistrates,
whilst the worthy retailers from the butchers'
shambles and the tripe and trotter-shops of the
market, which was held_ on this day, composed'
`.the remaining parts of this assemblage. Indeed
this day seems to have been selected for the
Meeting, because it was the market day: Surely
Lord GttEY'cannot have The hardihood to assert,
that the Resolutions of such a Meeting expressed
the sense of the County. 'lie cannot venture to
-declare, that 'the Majority of the Northumber-
land Freeholders are his creatures,
,and so be-
sotted with his transcendant abilities, that they
-do not. see through his artifices,, and kilo* that
his onlrj aim is OrricE.L--That this is his rum-
-mum tionum—the panacea; which is to overcome
-all our difficulties, to renovate the Constitution,
and to repair all the abuses and imperfections,
which predecessors engrafted upon it. lie
cannot mean to say that this was an assemblage
'of the Friends of the Constitution ; the Asserters
of the People's Rights ; and the Advocates of
Liberty ; for our free and excellent Constitution
is tolerant and mild, and admits to its' protection
men of all political and 'religious • sentiments;
the rights of the People are foUnded upon this
. .

beneficent institution; and the Spirle•of Preedotri
. is generous, manly, and independent, and very
distinguishable frOru Licentiousness, which •is
vehement, clamorons, and despot,ic., •" ;The
assemblage at Al-4rpeth evidently was '• not
composed of per-ions actuated by feelings ema-
nating from such principles. Their vehemence,
clamour,. and impatience of a Gentleman who
'boldly avowed his sentiments, bespeak them.
the adherents
.of faction and- party, 'and the
dupes of their great Whig leader,.Lord •G REY.
I do not deny, that Lord GREY did display
• greet ingenuity, sophistry, and ability, but it
reminds me of the ingenuity of SMOLLETT'S hero,
P EREG rtmc ProKnE,which enabled him so to work
-upon the political feelings of his tutor and asso-
ciates as to cause them. to burn their wigs and
to commit the grossest absurdities:. So we find
this Meeting composed, as we 'are told; of inde
pendent men, the friends of the people's rights,
roincurring. in Lord GREY'S schemes to raise hirn-1
-Self into ;power, Censuring the High Sheriff for
conduct,_ which has gained him the esteem of
every rationaland +iell.-dispoSed man.e.nd reposing,
with the.most stupid blindness, in the professions
of -a Party,'• whose 'sole -obieCt:ever has been to
aggrandize themselves, And- to oppress the Mo-
narch and the People . - •
• Their abase of thelligli-SheriffwaS to be- ex-
pected. • Lord (Ink* and his associates were no
• doubt provoke& at his firmness and independ-
ence, and his refusal-tb lend the countenance of

his office to their inirty:Viestv's. 'Lord pitEy-stEg,-

matized the., Loyal Addresses, whick.haVe been
...voted -(rem ;every part. of the. country, as mere
. party artifices to -prolone the poWer: and In,
fluence of the present -Minic'ers"; and- granting,
. for a monrent, that they arcr, *surely they-are no
, worse than rats Motpeth PaltiOns; for he will
not, he- cannot deny, that these spring from any
other-4notive'than the hope"` of rousing Other-
counties to similar .expressions in his favour, and
.. thus Ipf i.prepaTitig 'the road to his -elevation to
some M-Nisterial.dignity: If 'such be the fact,-
- and no real'grievance, no constitutionalviestion
.was
.the object•of the Requisition fo the Iligh
Sheriff, who is7-there that, so far froth' braining
his refusal, will not adinire his manly deterrai-
. nation to support the dignity of his office, and to.
preserve- it .unsullied from a mean submission to
Lord GR-EY'S ambition, and- the virulence'of his
misguided adherents ?
• Such, Sir, are the,reflections which this Meet-
ing has
_presented to my -mind. If it had been
convened-to advocate the necessity of a.cOnstitu-
tional and moderate Reform in Parliament, to,
point out any plan'fbr retrenchment in the' na-
tional expendituFe; or to_ represent any other
-matter of general . interest, and conducive to
public welfare," it would have -had my hearty
concurrenco ; whilst now it. has mine, and, I
trust,. the' contempt of every other advocate of

the Rights of . the -People, ,and of our venerable
Establishment in Church and State.

On the indecent and calumnious attacks of
Lord GREY -and his son-in-law on the general
body of the CLERGY, I shall take the liberty to
comment with that freedom which they require;
and I hope occasionally allow the to
COmmtrnicate to re puhITC-through
the medium ok'your impartial;_nd independent
Paper.
iNiorpeth, Jan. 14, 1821. VINDEX.
_ _

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

PLANDERS MAIL.

By a Mail from Flanders;" which arrived at a
late hour-last night, we received Brussels Papers
to Tuesday.. The following article may not be
unworthy. of -notice. at this critical time. Ac--
counts received from Berlin to the 6th instant;
did,nbt mention the departure of the Kink for
Laybach
. .FRANKFORT, -JAN. 10.—We have the follow-
ng communication from Berlin, dated the Ist of
his .month Igor some time past_ extraordi-
nary activity has. been .ohserved to prevail in the
War Department; purchaSes'of horses continue
to-be.made, to remount the cavalry ;- the regi-,
meats of infantry and. artillery cantoned in the
provinces are successively reviewed ; every thing
•announces- that. our Government is taking mea-
sures of precaution. •
Special Commissions are going.to be esta-
blished at Magdeburg and -Munster, to deter-
mine:in-a definitive manner the relations which
are to subsist in future between the Nobles and
the peasants in the provinces situated between
the Elbe and the Rhine. The. bases upon which
these Commissions shalt fix the relations-in ques-
tion, have been laid down by the Council of
State, and-approved by his Prussian Majesty."
The official Gazelle of Berlin published the
following - paragraph :---".According to various
accounts received from Cleves, reports are circu•
fated in that neighbourhood of intended cessions
of some part of the country to neighbouring
States. We can affirm, from good authority,
that these reports are_ entirely destitute of foun-
dation."