The Sun.
London, England, 1819-12-08 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 8, 1819.

FOR THE SUN'.

SEDITIOUS .NIEET/NGS BILL.
•

MR. ED/Toil—l- should* 'twit have presumed to.
encroach upon your colnoins with the opinions of
so obscure an individual as myself upon this itn
portant measure, had it not °centred to me that
there arc one or two arguments which have hi-
them, been lost sight of by the supporters of the
Bill, in answer to- the alleged abridgment of the
right of petitioning, which will result from diVid-
ing public Meetings into Districts, in cases where
all the Constituted Authorities have rebised to
bauction them on,.alarger scale : an abridgment,
which has been characterized by some Alembeis
of the, OiiivismiotkJitt,Vo)oo-Tifilig: 4- 0 almost a

annihilation of that auci,git Right, acknowle'ged,
as it is on all hands, to be one of the most valu-
able inherent in a Brilish Subject ; but not only
does it appear to my humble j.dgment, that the
cesirietive measures now in contemplation will
operate 45 whatever Of this privi-
kge, but that it unit in no small degiee to
qiiitrge and Inainin intiolare, according to its

true sense and spirit, the iiherty o! the subject
in. this respect ; for if the Itight'inean any thing
at all, it must surely imniy. that ev'ery person in
he Realm, let his opinions be what they may,
shall have an equal opportunity with his neigh-
bour of expressing those opinions, and I contend
that he trill be more in a situation to do so under

the Act as n 0,4 proposed, than he is at present.
I need not travel beyond t limits of this city for
au illustr.ition of what I advance, though the
same arguments would apply to any other portion
of the kingdom, hut wiil content myseif with ad-
verting to the public 'Meetings whit:h are occasion.
ally held here. It will hardly be denied, that time
are some few inhabitants of Wes: tni :4 ter, who are

opposed to the-doctrines of Radical lik•form—that
there are some again, wlto do not agree in idol-
izing the Worthy Baronet as '' Westminster's
Pride, and England's Hope,”---and Ora ! there
are even stone who en the heinous and uncoil-
sritlotilswal length of sometimes I hi.,king that Mini-
sters may he in the ; yet I appeal to the
Worthy Baronet himselt (than whom there does
not exist a more .strenuous Advocate for the en-
ii,ghteated discostiotts that take place at those
Nhetings, and the perfect purity that prevails
there), to say, wher her such persons are not alto-
gether deterred from attending on those occasions,
partly by the certainty that they would not he
allowed to speak their sentiments, and partly by a
fear of personal viole'nce. That even the latter ap-
prehension is not a groundless one, will be suffi-
ciently manifest from a bare recurrence to the
scenes exhibited, at- the two last Elections, parti-
cularly to the unmanly and brutal attacks that
were repeatedly made upon Sir MURRAY Max-
WELL, and never shall I forget, that one Honour-
able Gentleman, who had been his opponent on
that occasion, on the day 'following that gross as-
sault which disabled the gallant Officer from ap.
pearing again in the field, declared to the assem-
bled crowd his opinion, that not only were their
Liberties infringed upon by the appearance of the
Military, but that the numerous Constables who
were kept in attendance round the Hustings,
were wholly unnecessary; at a moment when
the Civil Power was unable to protect an indi-
vidual, whose political tenets 'were obnoxious
to tise mob, from open and inhuman violence ;
this-was the sentiment avowed by one of those,
who would now persuade us, that Meetings of a
precisely similar character to those at a General
Election—Meetings where no one dare oppose a
single sentence of the Resolutions previously got
up by the pi incipal performers on the stage, and
where no one professedly hostile to such Resolu-
tions are even spew his face, are the only ones
at which a fair dischssion of grievances, and
proper representation of them to the Higher
Powers, can take place. So far from this b.ting
really tire case, many persons of respectability
and weight, who are precluded in the manner I
have pointed out from attending large and tumul-
tuous Assemblies, will not feel the same repug-
nance to appearing at their own District or Pa-
rochial Meetings, and thus will a much more
gonuine report of the public feelings at large be
likely to reach the ears of Parliament and the
Crown, than can ever be derived from a source,
where that fundamental principle of ail law and
justice, " Audi aberam part em," is discarded by
the multitude, and while liberty is in their mouths,

thegroSsest tyranny is, reiguing in their hearts.
But here it
.is(to :use. a vulgar expression) that
-the shoe pinches—hetelt is that the secret fears
tifthe Rtulical Reformers begin to unfold them-
: they /6Oveit will he no longer in their
i,ower to carry, amid clamour and cOnfitsion, pro
vositions which their listening admirers do :not
give theniiielves the time or trouble to understand,
but than persons of ni: patties will .now be able
to speedt out their honest sentiments, and in many
instances furnish a wholesome antidote to the
poison which has hitherto corrupted the sources
of truth, In Westminster, for 'instance, they may
be apprehensive that those three Parisheswosll
broughtt! plici act old ma iwtiily.,94.sl4;iie*ttaips:t4-ke
Worthy- Baronet at his last Election, may be
dined to put a very different face upon passing
events, from the garbled and ex parte statements
‘ehich issue from what is falsely called a General
Meeting of the Electors, and may thus materially
detract from the force of counter,representations

in ()tiler quarters.
But it is also made a strong objection to the
1111 now before Parlianteut„that numerous Peti-
tions from small bodies of people are less calcu-
lated 10 have ,veight with the Legislature, than a
smaller number of Petitions from larger bodies.
That they will have a less imposing effect at first
sight, may perhaps be readily admitted ; but I can
never be, brought to believe, that where any
twenty housand persons have a wish to petition,

ten separate Remonstrances, each with two thou-
sand signatures, all representing the same facts,
and an praying for some mode of Redress, would
not have much more influence upon the calm de-
liberations of Parliament, than one Petition bear-
ing twenty thousand nantes : a display of strength,
which cannot be entirely free front-an appearance
of intimidation, and that suspicion alone may in-
e the Legislature, with a view to is own dig-
nity and independence, to resist it.

These, Sir, are the grounds upon which I con-
scientiously believe that the new measure will
neither trench upon the Right, nor lessen the
effect of Petitioning ; anti that it may soon be-
come the Law of the Land, is the sincere wish
of, Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,
AN ELECTOR OF WESTMINSTER.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF' KING'S BENCH, Dec. 7.
(Sittings .Ifter Term.)
LF.THRRIDGE V. SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS.

This was an action to recover damages lor an
injury done to a miniature portrait of the late Dr.
WoLcor, generally known by the name of Peter
Pindar, which had been executed by the plaintiff,
and tent to Sir Richard Phillips.
It appeared that a person named Bernard had
gone to the plaintiff, and borrowed the miniature,
promising to procure him patronage. It ►ryas sent
by Bernard to Sir Richard Phillips for inspection,
and placed on the mantle-piece, where the beat,
it was. stated, cracked the ivory. The picture ►vas
handed to the Judge, round the Court, and to the
Jury, and admitted to be a beautiful performance.
The pl.►intiff tailed in proving tik;it Sit Richard
Phillips had consented to receive the portrait ;
nor did it appear that he knew it ,tas in the
house when the injury was done.—Plaintiff non-
suited.