The Sun.
London, England, 1821-02-10 00:00:00

THE QUEEN

Sir R. WILSON presented a Petition from the
operative Brass 'Founders and Brass kVorkers of
the Metropolis ; before he stated the prayer of
the Petition, he must advert to some gross calum,
nies which had been circulated against her Ma,
jesty, and the present Petitioners amongst others.
It had. been said, that much of the money granted
to the Queen, had• been employed by her in get-
ting up the pro Cessions which had been-seen taking
up Addresses daily to the royal residence. Now,
on the part of the Petitioners, . he had to state,
that the several processions of the . Brass Wor-
kers had cost no lesS -a sum than 70001., which
had been subscribed by the workmen themselves
of their -own accord. The Petition prayed the
restoration of the Queen's name to the Liturgy,
as the or ly step for saving the country ; and pray-
ing that the persons who had' proposed and per-
severed in the persecutions against her Majesty,
should be made to pay the expences out of the
produce. of their salaries and their sinecures ;
mad that no - money should he g,ra•nted for the
public services, till- these objects were. obtained.
---Ife should cent:43ly support this part of the.
prayer of the Petition; for a reason "which he

would state, namely, the connection them ap-
peared to be between the Milan and Hanoverian
Commission, and the circumstance of one of the
principal 'Agents of the Hanoverian Commission,
after hai-ing been convicted Of picking locks,
being appointed .to a 'place of groat trust, at the
Court of Rome and because he understood a
bkbe of 10001. had been offered to aNunic►pal
clffiter4S some, rank, Hake could introduce Wm-
svlf intaer RoyalltigMess's family, and to her
servants, for certain purposes.,--The Petition was
received.

CONDUCT OF SHERIFFS.
Lord ,BELORAVE then presented a similar Pe-
tition from certain Freeholders of the Connty of
Chester.—The Noble Lord adverted to the con.;
duct-of, the Sheriff of Chester, who, he said, had
called a publid Meeting of the Freeholders of
;the county, for the purpose of agreeing to what
was called a loyal Address. At this Meeting a
noble and near relation of his-attended, and did
consider it as his duty to propose an amendment ;
the doing so, however, was the signal for the corn.:
mencement of such a scene of confusion as no
tongue could describe ; and this cenfitsion origi-
nated with individuals from whose rank and
situation better conduct might have been ex-
pected ; and what could have been the grotinds
for such violent opp6sition he was at a loss to
know, since the amendment only Oroposed what
every loyal subject must wish, namely, that his
Majesty should be adviSed to comply with tlw
wishes of the great majority of the people,. and
restore her Majesty to her rights. He would ask
was ,not this loyal ? yet, loyal as it was, the High
Sheriff refused, when applied to on his own re:.
sponsibility, to put the, amendment. The Noble-
Lord then proceeded to express his doubts of the
Sheriff possessing any power, in right of his of.;
fice, to refuse to put any amendment. Ile even
doubted the right of the Sheriff to insist on pre'7
siding at a Meeting which he himself
,called, nt6,
more than' any other individual who was present
—lie was only a Ministerial Officer when in that
situation. He knew it might be urged that a
Sher:if had a discretionary power, but he denied
it ; he must act according to law, and wheiever
discretionary power commenced law ended. The
Noble Lord proceeded to comment further on the
conduct and power of the Sheriff, and concluded
by moving that the Petition should be brought up.
Mr. EGERTON defended the Sheriff from the

imputation of party motives. He was a Gentle-
man of independent feelings, and was not likely
to lend himself to any party. If the Sheriff had
acted wrong, he might be punished but this was
not the place in which he-cOuld be called on to
answer for his conduct.

Mr. BRIGHT thought the HOuse was the plaCe
where the Sheriff COuld be called to answer for
any attempt to, depri-,e the people of their right
Of petitioning. He would ask the Hon..c:entle-
'man, if such was not the case, where was the
Sheriff to he called on to answer? Were they,
he would asit', to wait till the Judges went • the
Cithiit; and the People's right of -petitioning be in
the mean time held in abeyance.
Mr. B.lVlt.nuAnArrt denied the doctrine of.
the NOble Lord, that the Sheriff was not *by
law the presiding Officer at County Meeting-3.
w ;rib cn tier:laza 1.1, hir. 7 Epoic4l last.
that if a Sheriff interfered to prevent a Petition
to tire" Ifertnr-of Commons on any subject ton-
netted with the People, he would be' arrienable
to the power of the House ; but in this case the
House could have no right to interfere, since it.
:lid 'not. at di relate to the privileges of the House.
As to the conduct of ,the Sheriff at the Meeting
in question, he had made every inquiry in his
power, and understood that the conduct of. the
Sheriff had been most impartial. The Hon.Merri-
ber then adverted towhat had passed at the,Meet-
ing for the County of Kent, and the treatment
which an individual had received at the Kent Meet-
ing,As alluded to in a late discussion, only as he un-
derstood, because he presumed to dissent from the
opinion of the majority of the Meeting, and be-
cause, on inquiry, he turned out to be a half-pay
Officer.—The Bon. .Member also adverted to
violence of conduct in other places, as well as at
County Meetings. He was ready 'to allow that,
in
.the lbarinth of the moment, Gentlemen might
utter expressions, of which, at other times, they
Would be aSharned. Tie cOuld'only so consider
the conduct and expressions of some tiononrable
Members of the House on the day of the last pro-
rogation of ParliaMent.
Mr. Hols-E-ywoon defended the Kent Meet-
ings and denied that the individual alluded to had
been in any manner ill-treated.

CREEVEY said, as the Hon. Gentleman had
adverted to what passed at the late prorogation,
-he would pursue what the Hon. Gentleman had
commenced; an 4 say that he was one of those
who cried shame on that occasion ; and he did so
because he felt the conduct of certain individuals
called for such an expression. He .strongly .con-
denmed the conduct of the Sheriff, and said, if
no other person did, he would hereafter move
that the Sheriff of Chester be called to the bar.
- s4r J. N EWPOILT applauded the tontintt of-tlte.
Noble Lord who brought forward the motion.
If such conductas that of the Sheriff was legal,
and justifiable, the. right of petition was nothing
but a mockery.
Mr. B. WILBRAHAM explained.
Mr. S. ll'oftTr.,.y was decidedly of opinion the
duty of the Sheriff was to afford the People every
opportunity of petitioning ; but he understood
the Meeting at Chester was for the purpose of
addressing:the Throne, and, therefore, the privi-
leges of the House. were not connected with it,
and the House could not possibly-interfere.
Lord BELGRAvE explained.—lle did not mean
to impute any improper motives to the Sheriff, he
only stated facts.

A MEMBER, whose name we could not learn,
said, in his opinion; it was the duty of the House
to protect the People in their right of petition-
ing, every branCh of the Legislature; he did not
consider, that a Sheriff should be called to the
bar without full proof of misconduct.
• After a few words in explanation from Lord
BELottAvx and Mr. CREEVEY, the Petition was.
brought up and read, and ordered to be printed,

PETITION FROM GWENT.
Mr. DENMAN he held in his hand a Peti-
ion frord'a person Earned J. M'Dougal7 corn-

planting that had been falsely charged with
uttering forged drafts on the Bank of Scotland
whilst trat ening in the Netherlands, and upon
that charge hnprisoned by the authorities at
Ghent, and deprived.of every m Ittis of defend-
ing himself, the name of 'lris accuser being con-
cealed from him. That he had rpp led to Lord
ClAitcarty, the British Ambassador at the Court
of Brussels, for prote,ctiikt but. Nvithout success ;
lie had tlalte.fore'. felt himself called en to peti-
tion the House to txtend its protection to him as
a British. subject.—The Petition was read, and
ordered to lie on the table-and to be_printed.