The Sun.
London, England, 1810-01-17 00:00:00

'l.lent;

their
COUNTY MEETING, BERKSHIRE. Mint

cl iii-*.`.
Monday a very numerous Meeting took place„ . eir
the. Preeliolders, Clergy, and Inhabitants cif
Um-
county of Berks, in the Town-Hall of Abingde *4tiel
_ As early as twelve o'clock the 'Hall was complel , h'hat
Jy crowded in every part, and
.about half-paste .tliArds
the 'High Sheriff; Sir T. METeALFE, having, t 2 why, 1
the Chair, proceeded to read the requisition. 'its o
stated that the meeting waA called to consider U.--I'Dal
the propriety of addressing his Majesty on the 7 • arrive
sent alarming crisis of public affairs. The obj'• as of
thet -would 'present themselves, would probably ilessel
two :---tat, Whether they should agree to add' lialur
his Majesty at• all ; and; 2dly;* What the nature ;knot:
.the address should be ? •He fioped that every fr icy, c
holtietewpuld be heard with attention; and remits' rash
them that the' humblest among them was as 01 follot
emitted toethat attention, as the richest individ' 'tiny
in tue.oono row
ty.
Lord FOLKESTONE then rose. ' Before proceecll' any
to the business upon which they -were called'' ghoul
gether, he- thought it .right to Sa y. a few words; . _Who
consequence of what tell. from the High Sheriffr "ach
peCting..the privileges of the "freeholders to 'be li- t xpt
for themselves.' 'He 'agreed with that GentlenVl node,
as ,he supposed every individual, now present ' his 1\
also, that a forty-shilling freeholder was entitled t stint;
as much attention astny individual in' the coenli, t'll of
hurt he could wish toleae why the vote Gn ail pubi nary,
occasions should .be: confined to a freeholder ' Qoue
forty shillings a-yeare or wit), it Should not be 0 if he
extended to every individual landeolder ? It, wash' brow;
wish 'originaly not to have a meeting a freehoide„ alive
only, but or the whole century : the High Sher' his i
however, had theught differently,:-and convened 1-1' his
Meeting in its. present form. In behalf of the fr- ever 3
holders under forty shillings, he claimed the priY' the
lege•of voting, and lie eauched, on this point th , Errol
early; that- any freeholders present, if so disposeo -I)ert:
might challenge the. right of voting which he tin' tam,
elaiMed. . ' . - ' kit
Some 'othefGentlemenhaving delivered their opt. Poirli
Ilion's, .tire. High Sheriff observed, tint.ne .!id 1101 that
•ConceiYe. 'ir
:'te be his duty to answer all ititvrrogat'Y .tom,
ries thar:thight be put to hira, He had objected t° kt, en
cal a meeting of the inhabitants, bre:lust! he t little
lbot obligt:el 10 do so; and the only instance iti court
fj*llleh ht: had known it to be. done ceps one i° 44c1
*hid] Dutch and Danish prisoners.. mingled theft torn
votes 'el( le tine legs imate voice ,of the. CCPtirqy Ai tire;
146 :What bed beea said with respect to the necessiti iv
.11 of a forty shilling,freehold to entitle Gentlemen t° tires
Iyete,••hettlicr trot. kridiethat he should object to ad
vote upon si.-, h a groupd,--(eipplueses.i IN,
1 Lord Fot-Kerate.:i melerg r some a lusions to Ill° l'lck
. ' Meeting being livid at Abingdon in, tee (If Reading,
hi)g.
The_HlGst SilELorr said, that lie, ieesoit for not Aviv
eet
ecal.ine the present Meeit a(ile- t. ing W7s, that 110 . ,thrrtu
esaauid not rn totnand the 'fw tv HAI ii.ere,. ai,d b° :"-ai
A 9aceived co tt,•as High Sheriff for t,.at county, be '..4, It
.lhould not condescend P. aQt, a favour te'aoy Msyot Znd
olei
oreCorpereticm.—(elppausese) „ • -
, tte,
.-- ' feordeFeetts-ruNe then proceeded : he cenceivea et,ll
'it ienpbestble fur any man, whether at Abingjon or . t,41
at Relcting, to abject to :the. Andress he meant to posl
propose. Whet( t' ey
.coilstdered rbe pre..ent sate vial
of Europe" anti of crest lititaie, he stiff -nut thinl4 I -ish
-they Vi, mild Consider, the epithet of al n wing as ob..it w
jeetiota'.l.. ; ~.lien :hey reflected in what heeds the aff,
different branthes of the Administration of the A,Te
k'ailpire• were placed, and bow. i.ersons in owed owi
condtlaed themselves,' Geptlemeti could not bar .4,s ,
' feel dismay and alarm. Tee recent annexation of me
Holland to 'F(4irce'es.as sufficient to render' the pre' u
Pas
sent teomene alarming ; but w hen we turned to- cap,
I.kiards Spain-and 'saw how little .hope there was of a I
• :.the people in thtteOuntly doing any thieg for thew Red
4eives—when we leuktal to the; state of disaffece ite,
Lion in which- trelan'd was placed t-hy. the impolitiC e_"
e, PoS
`,and imprudent conduct of Ministers towards tba. tho
.
country, we could 'not but regard i,he., pre-sent state ask
eef the Empire as perilous in the extreme.-.—There hot
e t
was another- ciNutn;lance which added to. toe dan- to
)g r 3 of the country, and which he hoped would he
snot be lost .sight of e''.he meant the introduction into in
these realms of numerous bodies of: foreign troops. irt2,
He hoped -.theMeetrng recelletted the noble. stand set
that wesemade by our ancestors in the reign of King ~,,,..
AVilliamokhen they oppo‘ed the introduftion even v7i
of two or three Dutch regiments, ,whereas at this tn,
n)rn,:nt.tbere were. twenty battalions of foreign et
soldiers' *nourished in the country. Another oil'
eurnstatice ,which • added to' the alarming' state of th;
affairs Was the diseensions now precedent in India i
l' would not enter at much length into this sub- ' ill,cf
itiff,because he did not as yet know v hether to I . crri
r'Ag(44rd these disturbances as a sithje6t, at;brief or 'ill
-.cii-4-atulation--if we attempted. to retain jlossession v
9atinclia by arms, he could not help regarding it as a 'fo
Ireet calamity ; •but if we saw that the resources of an
tir hostile powers,werr.. sufficiently great to forbid 4 4,,
any attempt otaliat kind, he would consider it as st :1;
happy event. We 11,d been veld that our Indian .-,k
teleitery was a great arm= of the 'Empire.; but, in ' ..kit
'his opinion, it was ,;1) arm -IA Weakness. lt wag ;a
• faise- to sUppose- that the web h we derived from :it at
was at ail to be compared with wit it we lost by it; 1„,1
it 'Was a perpetual drain vipon our population, 3ind tj
must produce 'tli6 most ruinous effects. It ,was ex- j,]
trecnely prebable. that the sarng of Lord Chatham lei
weuid speedily be Made g(,od, that- Indian havners
woted be the rein of (he country., Another topic bit
on
,wh(ch it would be lieees.iry to dwell, was our il:
expedition to ihe'Sciieldt.' No armament had ever il,
cost. so•nru..h Money to the-country. The number 1
uf men- ernpleyed in - the different departments 13
amounted tonbout -100,000.• User all these was set , t
.i, tee name of Chatharri—a name dear to the.country:e n
, 02,14. is mighty project ended, however, in batter-
i t
1
iliggidtilvm the Wails-Of the inoffensive town:of Flush -• e
I:iogegased in the taking of Middlebergh, which•nad 1
Itio,:waas at all. The Apedition.,sallect in the month -.
,iof4egust ;in twenty-teu cr hours-it reached its des- I,
i tnatton'—it- could have aceoplished.-its object in a. r
.
few days,. but it was kept for months in bogs and' r
marshes, subjet to all the diseases of the country.
1
ile,trusted.that something would be done toi.find i
out where the blame Jay ; if in the planners, he
(
hoped they would he punished ; and if in the Com- ~ 'I
menders, they ought not to escape with impunity, I
But there Was another still more disgraceful and ca- ` 'i
lamitous expedition, 'namely,. that to Spain, under '
1
Sir- Arthur Wellesley., All present must remember ; 1
thespilit of liberty that broke out in that country, and : 'i
?hoi.V;zblithe influence of zeal and love of liberty, the . 1
driving the French out or
in
eSpaniirelStlnd succeeded
„
-,theimlonntryi thy then introduced local Govern.