The Sun.
London, England, 1817-03-05 00:00:00

pETrrioNs.

Sir JOHN Cnr.TwYND Presented a Petition front
the Inhabitants of Newcastle-nailer-Lyme, in
favour of Reform, &e.—Reatl, and ordered to-'
lie on the table.
A . MEMBER; whose name we could not learn,
presented a. Petition from the Mayor, !Aldermen,
and CalpOraiioll of the City at Chster, ssliich
deplored the present state at the public mind, and
recommended the strengthening the hands ol
tiovernment •ut this peculiar crisis. The Hon.
Gentleman said, he had another Petition train
the same place, which prayed- for Parliamentary:
Reform, but which, Jut ing read, lie was not in-.
dined to present. The lion. Member was pro-
cecding.ta state his objections to it, when
The SPENKErt observed, that any reMarks On
the- Petition, if he did nut mean to present it,
were irrelevant,
sir J. G. EGHRTON, basing been one of the
parsons %VIM attended Iliac inceting Which agreed
to the first-mentioned Petition, could nut ,refrain
from expressing his perfect concurrence :in its
contents. , • .
It was then, read,!-and, ordered to lie .on the

table. , • ,
Mr. CALVERT, On presenting the petition from
Southwark, to %vhiclr he had alluded last evenin., „,
observed, that it had only, been signed by the
Deputy Bailift and twelve perioro flit behalf of the
rest of the•inhabitants, in order to. save tim e. it'
prayed the House to panse before passing any
other law titan that for the Suspension of the
bens Corpus Act.--.-Itead, and ordered to lie on,the
table.
Sir 0. WARRENDEE pr-eSentO, a petition front
Truro, against a particular construction cat ti:e
Shop and Window Tax.„--Ilead, and ordered to lie
on the table.
A similar petition was presented by Mr. STANIS-
FORTH, and sopported.by Alr.:11-tomesON,
the narabitants of. Hull. The btu ei Gvutienl,o
spokeat flame length .on the rrnreasonablene,s.
this new levy, which be attributed to the oUlciuth-

[Pax

ness of certain taN,..gitthviers.'who•ie...bi,Yl it At
to increase their, Per I.(,ntage.:-The petition prayetl
that the tax.ntiglit Rot be enfior(td...
LU.l.ll:vcitoN sititi it WaS hint
enforce the now asse.4.stnents., .%yOlllll siitytlY
[ti tug in a Bill to exempt •Aiteltutoes from the
operation of the Act .as it now StRIIIIS • • • _
Sir F. Ilur.Derr presented R petition fromthe
Inhabitants of the Old Artilety (iiononl, on the
.c •
present clistreTsi, and praying tor ft, form and Re.-
trettchtnent.—ltcad, and ordered to lie on the
table.

The, Hon. Baronet then presented the follow-

ing Petitions .to the same purport :-.,-From Cupar
in Fife, from Langside, KinOtani in Fite, Keithleir
in File, 'and some others -- choy were bevel ally
read, and ordered. to lie on the table. •
I.IIIOUGIIAM presented a Petjt ion signed by
2736 inhabitants of-Strol:ditch, irtayiug for-some
kind of Reform.. Lie was sorry to say that rnucli
übstruction lord tiv.en matte to the Socay. of _These
Petitions, by. a pUblic Officer t f Woi,hip•stt ext.,
John Gifford, the Alagistrate, who had in-
terfered to prevent tie use of the Vest ry• room' for
holding the Meeting, in which, he a so, ry to
say, he was success:Ul. 'I he Ge—timmars.
also alluded to, several artifices which Lad been
used for a"similar purpose.--head, anti ordered to
lie on the table.

Lot (1 CoCkIRANE, Oft moving to present n I'e-

.. •
titian from Rotherglen, in Scotland (which we
understood to contain
.a cOniplaint of people
having bteti misrepresented in the Revolt), took
occasion to allude to the case of persons who bad
been taken up at .Giasgow, mind afterwards dis-
charged. 'tie spoke in so low a tone, that wt:
could only collect that he wished to know whe-
ther any papers were fointd on those persons to
authorize their detention ?

The LORD AnvocATß had no hesitation in StAt-.

ing, that the charges on tt hieh those persons were
imprisoned were, those of basing beeil en. ged
in treasonable conspisncies. It was mu kigreeahla
to the dictates of justice to state whet bet or not
a copy of an oath was found on them, a cir.nitn.
stance which, if trne, might excite a prejudice
against them if; they were to he brooght to trial.
But
,he could positively state that the sohjectot
obtaining parochial relief was never, its halt been
asserted, the purpose for Wl)i+ h their secret Meet-
ings tiad been held. He was col!fileot, ftoin
knowledge of the Magistrates, th,ir they would.
not lt,.ep any man one moment cWsiody, againSt
whom there was no cluitge; hot Ike would again
state that lie had neverheen in possession of any
information .against them which - was proper to

disclose.
Mr. 131toUGHAM said. the question Simply was,
whether it was trite or.not, that certain flambee
of persons .had been .arrested at Crlitsgo , who
had since then, discharged ; and whether any eisargL s
could be made out against them?:
• The Loan AnVOCATßrOpcated, that he had lir)
information to gito on the subject.
S.r 1?. Buitinyr said, there had been informa-
tion that three persons who' Were apprehended
had been dischargul. It was, insisted and told
;0 the 11Irtgistrates, that on theJunocenee of thcs.
people being provvd, he might to grant a warrant
for the appt ehension of the spy who had intortued.
against theist ;, but, he refused to do so, 6:cattso
ik:s spy sai:l 4mvas rr loyal Milli. I I was.remark-
a.ble, that -this plea of loyalty was brought for-
Witt On several' occasions. It tvAi the off-a
person who was Convicted of a fraud on,the
eke Laws, and it had the de•ired effect. It was

be plea E)t Limbrick, who' lie was bum& be-

tore die Magistrates for ill treating the poor boy
whoa was dtteeted in bulling down the nand-hill
against.Mr: limit, and who seemed to he 3S far
ntf as e%er from. gaining any redress by a suit in
forma piluperis; so it seemed that loyalty was a
cover lor every 4il).
The Petition was thou read, and ordered to lie
nu the tattle.

Lord COCHRANR then moved to present a peti-
tion trout Narehbank, Renfrew, On Reform.
The St'EAK:lt 'Attic', the question Of a former
evening, re,peet ing what number of Petitions one
Member shonhl hying tip in 811 evening, still re-
mained rather unsettled. It ‘v,is snggesicti to bu
ithont six o$ right. lint last night 600 had hecti
offered at chive. The House would use their
pleaSitre as to receiving them at once. if they
were all of the shin,: oat .Ii e they might he tecei veil
at once ; but if they vareil itrtheir terms, it might
be proper to consi4r them separately,
Lord Cocti u.s.st a then said, that he I bOught they
did ~ary'in their terms. ne 1:;,d iJno tp peewit
front GrOoby, . which appeared to contain Wortle
that might be 'tlqemed offensive.
. •
O out;n being brtit up `and read, it prayed for
Reform, 041 the ground tuft the people were
.not
constitutionaitYrepre,ented in Parlihmela...
Lord ci,itti.,E4RAtni could not see any worth
mote uffensive than denying tint the people. were
.. • . _
not constitutionally represeoted- by Parliamvut.
,Sir P. Ilu.up).,rr was at
,quite a different opt.
him!, Ile coohl,nat eoiit':eire thohe worls to he
a ground of 'Olic!etion. They were as inoffrnsille
as any soul-{ be ; fOr if there was orca,ion for tt.
Reform, it was a ptoof that the worth: wete not
re ti' t' I' • . •. . I.lamid the object of the
ons u hula ,y it pie,Ao LI ,
petition was to pray that they 1114;W be so.
Lo.rd II) Ntil NO 1.5 IS of file Sante °pluton as Lord
. ..
Castlerettgli. At the very-beginning ot. the ,'es-
Om a Petition, containing such words, had hem
ohi e C.l i: ii to.
'll.. llttotiounks Said, 113 fhr OS be recollected,
au, e were other words iii that petition, such as
ti
!lot. legally or ratto,t ooy rrpresented " lle
thi.og!it tin. word; 11OVir Ikbit'Cted to were very
p:upv.. To say that the people were riot lewdly
reptesetited scent to deny the power of the Elms,:
to enact lii,,vs ; btit,if, instead of Ilenyihg that the
I-louse actuOly doee represent the people, it: bills

:P.:2-103j;i4

said that the representation WHS not consti-
!no,mal, this was only. an argumentative- way of
F,t.tting the proposition that Refornr.soas neces-
tlry. Jf H Clerk, as was ttehoically.,sitid, and not
Layman, had drawn up the petitipn, he would
have !wen more particular as to titelprecise words
he intiothiced ; but could it be said-that the peti-
tioners had any wilful intention of insulting the
[louse? They had only taken. a.short way of ex-
pressinOlhentselves, and he once more strongly
entreated the House not to stint the Actors against
ouch petitions, but rather to open them as wide
as possible.
Lord. 13ttit4iNce, said, the word " rational"
might have been in the farmer petition, but the
-objection was taken to the word " constitu-
tional."

Mr. BATIIUeST agreed, that it was the duty of
the House to open its doors to petitions, and bring
the question of Reform fairly before the House.,
He was sure the House had not all nice
its respect to the language of petuiOnS.; but the
question was, whether this petitiint was not in-
tended to convey an improper impres.ion respect-
ing the representation of the country ; and the
corollary world be, that the House were not the
legal and constitutional representatives of the
people, who suGred taxation without represen-
tation, and were consequenty in a state of slavery.
The petition, in hi 4 opinion, did go to impeach
the conduct of the House.

Mr. IV,tatn said, the ithly inference-to be &awn
front such language was, that the House existed
in contradiction to the Constitution.' Those who
saw the infinity of.petitions before the House, and
observed that they were nearly all drawn up in the
same language, trtust. be convinced there were
learned "Laytueu" as well a% " Clerks," who
knew what they were abont when preparing
them.

Mr. CALPItiFT, though the language might be
absurd, thought the opinion vet y honest, and as
long as they acknowledged the House as the vir-
toal Rept esentatives of the People; there was not
grand came for rejecting their PetitiOn.
Mr. ‘VI(NNa deprecated such itielcss loss of
time in the discussion of Petitions, which pro.
tracted the more pressing business. He thought
the language came as near as possible to that of
the Petition which the House had refused to
ieceive.

.111 r. Lssmots could not conceive why diet-louse
*boobd reject the Petition on such grounds as the
Noble Lord had laid down. On the first day of
the Session one had been received, which asserted,
that " the House did not itkany rational and con-
Sa4titional sense represent the people." There
`was another received, wit ich.contained an absolute
insult and mockery, by describipg the [louse as
the " Mere tools ol an over-grasping oligarchy.''
Mr. Visa FITZGERC.D thought the lion. Gen-
tleman who spoke last, had stated stronger grounds
than had been yet urged for the rejection of the
Petition. The House must now see the necessity
of analyzing such Petitions, in order that they
Night not re-accept such insults, but reject them
when studiously offered, thought with far different
motives from what the Petitioners laid claim to.

The 11110360 n was then put, and the Petition
was rejected.

L01(1 COCIIIIMIE then presented several others,
'which were received. It was alterwards agreed
that the flutter presentation of Petitions should
be postponed, till to-morrow.