Star.
London, England, 1809-12-16 00:00:00

IRREGULARITY IN SUMMONING THE COURT.

Mr. DIXON wished to know at what time his Lord-
ship had issued the summonses to the Members to
attend to-day's Court ?
The Loan MAYOR had ordered the summonses to
be issued at nine o'clock yesterday.
The TOWN CLERK said they were issued as soon as
possible after his Lordship's order. When at the
Common Hall yesterday, he was asked if the Court
of to-day could not bedeferred till to-monow? he said
certainly, if his Lordship chose.
Mr. MARRIOTT thought that this Court was as le-
gally called as any other.
Many Members declared they bad not got their
notices to attend until eight and ten o'clock today.
Mr. Sheriff ATKINS N% as sure the lord Mayor had
done what he thought right in calling the Court ; at
the same time he had heard the Recorder lament the
inconvenience ia consequenc:t of it, haying Coimsel
at a great expence to attend in the Lord Mayor's
Court to-day.
The RECORDER said he was attacked by many who
Said they had much money depending on suits, for
not :Atending the Lord Mayor's Court to-day ; but
as this Was 2 superior Court, be thought it was his
duty to attend it.

Mr. WAtrustAN said, though there might be some
irregularity in delivering the notices, in consequence
of the hurry of the Common Hall yesterday, still he
thought the Court was as regularly called as arty other
that ever was held. He was sure every Gentleman
was aware a Court was to be held. It was an easy
matter however to adjourn till to-morrow, if this Court
was deemed irregular.
The requisition to the Lord Mayor was here road.
Mr. Sheriff Al KINS said, this requisition he thought
irregular, because it did not assign a singl.' reaK,n
why a Court should be called. The il;rnier Court,
~xcessively crowded, had for eight hours reconsidered
the Address to his Majesty, and had been called to-
gether, because the first Address was not considered
bt:fricientiy respectful to the King. Ceutlt men now
wished t." reconsider the Address ay,ain, only. be-
cause they happened to be in a minority—he would
':rater his protest against such a ptoceedilig ; Ito w:e•
anxious for the credit of his Lordship; if his 1,44.,!)ii,
had consulted hint, he v..ould have given him his ad-
vice with pleasure—(.l latish.) He condemned the
requisition, because there \V:iS no reason stated in it.

TArn.i thought the Address was brought in
in a ha,,ty m u,ner, and was sure, if the worthy she.
riff himself was in the ( ..`onntlittee, he would ehuse to
change many parts of it he thought, therefore, that
another Address to his Majesty was necessary, and
should move " that a Committee be inunediately ap-
pointed to prepai.e :toother ..-‘cldtc.s to his 'P,lajcqy."
Mr. SHARPE thought that an enquiry into the con.
duct of Government was imperiously dem,nded, for
employing an incapable Commander in Holland, and
a rash in;riguing officer in Spain—(l-I,.ar, he. 7 r )
There never were expeditiuns in which more treasure
was negligently wasted, cr ni,,,re precious blood
cruelly and eamelesqy spilt. The vai ions too's of a
delinquent Ministry preterit ,•d to desire enquiry, ht:
he hoped the enquiry w;,:ild he full and ample he
hoped no miserable iv:, vion he coiaiten::accd.
(Heir I) They shod t*).p.:sS themselves so to his
ajesty, but in re,pertroi trims tlo doubt.
--n' Id be no intent:on t.f limit:lt. the ov::1 fe •
21.1nugli they rnizlu th:nk pr, per to Collet ,m„ hk
Minister: those 'NU:a:actg:lin:A ,j; Chat-
/I:in-I was JAM cherished..

A Member siltymted the rnntioin, and hnped the
Cr.rnruittee wntl.l scum I)l.*:nr In th..ir .‘ddless.
Mr. Lyces :rid the Address of the Court to 1)4

Majesty, on the Spanish struggle, read, to shew that
they were of opinion assistance should be given to
Spain. He condemned this Address for the same
reason that he condemned the former one—because
it prejudged Lord Wellington. If our Expeditions
did not free Spain, that was the fault of the Spaniards,
and he thought our Generals right in fighting to shew
we wished to assist them if they would assist them-
selves. If Lord Wellington had not fought, many
in that Court, who now affected to blame him, would
have been ready to blame him still more. He pre-
ferred the second requisition to the first, because it
recommended enquiry, which, in his opinion, ought
always to precede condemnation.
Alderman GOODBEiI ERE thought that a great in-
dignity was offered to the Corporation, in proposing
ther econsideration of a measure adopted deliberately,
and after very ample discussion. He considered that
it was becoming in the City to address the Chief
'Magistrate with bold and energetic language. It was
a little extraordinary, that the worthy Sheriff (Alder-
man Atkils) should, in his Address in the Newspa-
pers, have Censured the proceedings of that Court ;
'and that, when speaking of his Majesty, he should
have chosen to say 4. my Sovereign," instead ofl
" our Sovereign." He certainly could not have
meant to claim to himself a much superior degree
of loyalty to other men, when he chose the-term of
" my Sovereign." He could not mean seriously to
promulgate an opinion, that the Court wished to in-
sult his Majesty, when he declared in his public ad-
vertisement, that he could not agree to the Address
which they voted, conceiving it to be disrespectful to
his Sovereign. There was certainly a very wide
ground laid down upon that occasion, for the Com-
mittee to frame such Address as they should judge
proper: and as the Committee were appointed in the
• accustomed manner, he could not see how the Address
which they voted could be done away without an at-
tack on the dignity of the Court. He also objected
to the last Address as being produced in a most un-
usual manner, it having been drawn from the pocket
of the worthy Alderman, and not submitted to the
revision of a Committee.

Mr. SPENCER took notice of the very numerous',
Court by which the las: Address was voted. It was
not, in f►ct, a new Address, but the original one re-
vised and amended.
Mr. GRIFFITHS observed that there had been a
great inconsistency among the Gentlemen on the
other side. A few days ago they were of opinion that
this v►as not a proper time for presenting any Ad-
dress to his Majesty, and yet they were all of them
now for an Address, if their own Address could be
carried.

Mr. KiwNtax said, that the first objection to the
Address was, that it had not been read paragraph by
paragraph. If it had not, why did not some Mem-.
her then move that it should ? [Mr. Sheriff Wood;
said that it bad been moved.] The next objection •
was, that there had been no precedent for an Address,
passed in thai manner, notwithstanding that the law
,officers had shewn a precedent. He thought, hew-
erer, the fair question for consideration this day would:
be, which of the two Addresses should be adopted ?
He hoped that this Court would not allow itself to
be influenced by clamour or direct abuse, which bad
:been liberally thrown out against them in another
!place. In the Common Hall there was yesterday a
!considerable deal of abuse against that Court and
against individual Members of it. When it was stated
1 before the whole Livery of London, that they were
all venal and corrupt, it was impossible to hear these
things without regret. and conviction of the foulness
of the calumny. It was hard, indeed, to be obliged
to listen to those things, in an assembly in which it
was impossible to obtain a hearing. When the ori-
ginal Address was considered, there would appear to
be parts of it very objectionable. If, when it talked
of Ministers lavishing the blood and treasure of the
country in fruitless expeditions, it should appear,'
upon inquiry, that these expeditions were well plan-
ned, how could the Court be justified in using such
language before inquiry ? Or, when it stated Lord
Wellington to have made a rash and ostentatious dis-
play of his personal courage, would that statement be
justified, if, in the event of inquiry, it should ap-
pear that Lord Welling:on had really no choice left
him ; but that he was bound, both by the instructions
of his own Government, and the solicitations of the
Spanish people, to enter Spain when he did ? Was it
fair, just, or dignified, to take those things for granted
befole inquiry, which might, upon inquiry, turn out
to be very different ?

Mr. Sheriff Wool) referred to the proceedings of
die last Cane, and to the recollection of the Members
A ho were then present, whether the Address had ever
been read at the last Court, after the Amendment
which had been moved ? He disapproved very much
of Addresses being pulled from the pockets of any
?iember, as the custom was that they should be pre-,
pared. by a Committee.
Mr. /Inicewoon thought nothing could be conceived
mole improper, titan that that tnan should be cen-
%tired who had fought the battle of Talavera. He
wondered that any man who bore the name of a Briton
should censure Lord NVellington. He would not be
more surpri,.ed if he heard a vote of censure proposed
on Lord Collingwood, or arty of those men of which
the country is the proudest. He had heard some
Members called tools of Administration ; he was
none of those. (A laugh.) He thought reflections of
this sort were most improper and cowardly, when used
in places whet e they could not be answer,d,
Mr. WAITHMAN said, that he believed that he would
notbe generally supposed to have acted in a cowardly
manner, in the mode that be brilught his charges;
he never dealt in insinuations against individuals, andl
when he had any thing to lay to their charge, he was
always anxious to say it to their faces. As for the
last speaker, who had been so indignant at the sup-
pot:ition that he would be considered as a tool of
Government, he would say, in the first place, that
he never charged him with so being : but, as that
Gentleman had chosen to introduce the subject, he
would state that he bad emoluments from the Go-
vernment, to the amount of £5OO per annum, (as he
un;erstod). Notwithstanding this, the wortier Gen-
tleman doulekss conceived himself to be pei-fectly
free ft opt any Government hiass. In the prod:gions
anneal expenditure of our Government, there west!!
many individuals in that Corporation, who rect tired
considerable emoluments from the Governmen t in
different ways, and yet they all supposed themseNes
to be as free and as independent as those who had re-
ceived no such favours. It happened, however, that