Star.
London, England, 1822-04-30 00:00:00

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dances. Lord Vag spoke of lir. Cobbett as as able
'publiewrite not a
r:whemocoustladbdieenany idtlintenwheiginteouldy
that he was writer,
and that his opinions in the 'main sure correct?--
(Hear, hiar).—Mr. Cobbett was, in truth, a writer
much into
whose literary labours the cottony *as -
debted, for he set things in a proper view ; and, in
fact, all that credit which many public men had
,ined by acting upon his su tons, was attri-
-1
ga butable to him rilone.—(Hear,rar.)—ln speaking,
then,-of such a man, why should not Lord King_be
Fat liberty to say what his opinion of him was?, Was
not the opinion of Lord King quite as valuable as
that of the Honourable Member (Mr. Wodehouse),l
and as likely to be correctly formed ?—(Hecr, hear.)
He (Mr. Bennett). would certainly set at least as
much value upon. one as the other. Lord King was
in a high degree gifted with an acute intellect, and
possessed a philosophical mind, descended to him
from the ingenious Mr. Locke, whose descendant he
was; and if Noble Lord had a seat in that House
there would have been nothing heard of this charge,
for the Noble Lord's character was as much above
reproach, as his public conduct was free from those
contradictions in principle and language for which
the Honourable Member opposite (Mr.-Wodehousey
was so remarkable:—(Hear,hear).—The course pur-
sued by the Honourable Member to-night, in relation
to the Noble Lord,' was, he rejoiced to say, new to
the practice of ParliaMenr. They.had tio: been used
to see Gentlemen come 'down to that -House, and,
upon the authority of a newspaper report, without
knowing anything of the truth of the matter, volun-
teer a wanton charge against a man *of Lord King's
station—(Hear)—and, to theabsence of that noble
person, set up his speech as a sample bf the worst
trash uttered at public meetings, and from it draw
justification of the conduct of the Magistrates upon
this occasion—(Hear, hear).—One good, however,
he expected from the contradictions of the Honour-
able Member, aad. that was, that as he ,professed
himself a deserter from the camp •of Ministers, he
would join the ranks of his (Mr. Bennet s) side of the
[louse. The Honourable Member had declared that
lie thought the Salt Tax should be repealed; and it
was to be expected, therefore, that upon theatext dig-,
cussion he would vote for its repeal. Withent, how-
ever, wishing to proselytize, he (Mr. Bennet) would
give the Honourable Member a little advice, which,
was, that he would take example from this discussion,
and not inconsiderately vilify the character of a . re-
spectable or deserving Nobleman, or again venture
to speak of worthy men in terms which one could
not hear without disgust and surprise.
Mr. WODEHOUSE, in explanation, observed,
that he was still borne out in what he had said of
Lord King praising Mr. Cobbett. He had a note of
the Noble Lord's words, which were these:—" He is
the most able writer of this or any other time)'—
(Loud cheers from the Opposition).—He had never
said more than that the Noble Lord eulogized Mr.
Cobbett. With regard to this individual having
been much in the county of Norfolk of late—
The SPEAKER here interfered, and observed,
that the Petition having been brought up, there was
then no question before the House, and to proceed in
the debate was irregular. The Right Honourable
Gentleman then put the question, " That it do lie
upon the table."—Upon which
Mr. WODEHOUSE resumed.—He had been
stating, that recently Mr. Cobbett was-very much in
Norfolk ; and to that he should add, that his efforts
there were alt turned to encourage the growth of'
discontent and disaffection. Upon more occasions
than one he had declared " that the laimers were all
brutes !—(A laugh)—that there was nothing shabby
which they would not do; and that, in hne, they
were starving their labourers, and doing everything
disgraceful to human nature." Could any one see
such a man held up as an object of admiration by a
Peer of the Realm without fear ? The Honourable
Member bad attacked him (Mr. Wodeltouse) for at-
tacking Lord 'King ; but was not his character of the
Noble Lord warranted by his speeches in the House
of Lorch?—(Crier of Order.)—He could assure Gen-
tlemen he had no disposition to pursue the subject ;'
and he adverted to it a second time, not with a view
to vilify Lord King, but to state that he was not in a
humour to retract one word he had said.
Mr. M A BERLY observed, that the best reason to
suppose that Lord King had formed a right estimate
of Mr. Cobbett was, that his sentiments were ap-
proved of by the Meeting whom he was addressing.
It would be well if certain Gentlemen could submit
their opinions to such a test as the voice of the people,
and come off harmless-7(llear, hear, hear).—As to
the charge of inconsistency of conduct, he was clearly
of opinion that it ought to he laid to the doors of
some Gentlemen who first voted the Supplies, and
then refused the Ways and Means. There were not
wanting Gentlemen to vote for the maintenance of a
large Army, and then afterwards vote for the repeal
of the Horse Tax. Facts were stubborn things.
The Petition was then laid on the table, and or-
dered to be printed.
Mr. COKE presented a similar Petition from the
Hundred of Erpingham, in the same county.—Laid
upon the table, and ordered to be printed.
Mr. SYKES presented a Petition from the district
of Holderness, in Yorkshire, complaining of Agri-1
cultural distress. The petitioners prayed the House
to reduce the taxes, and exclude foreign corn by the'
imposition of high duties.—Laid upon the table, and
ordered to be printed.
Lord G. CAVENDISH presented a similar Peti-
tion from the Landholders of the Eastern part of
Sussex, which, he said, was respectably signed. He
begged of the Noble Marquis opposite to attend to'
the prayer of the Petition. He hoped the forthcoming
plan would be founded upon a liberal and extended
view of the state of affairs, and not a flimsy or un-
satisfactory suggestion—(Hear, hear).—He disap-
proved of the relief by loan, as ill-suited to the mag-
nitude of the evil. It was his firm belief, that with-
out a repeal of the taxes no effectual relief could he
administered—(Hear, hear).—Laid on the table, and
ordered to be printed. -
Mr. BEAUMONT presented a Petition from the
county of Northumberland on the same subject. The
petitioners disclaimed the aid which would arise from
the imposition of protecting duties.—The Petition
waslaid upon the table.
Mr. MAXWELL presented a Petition from the
Farmers and Landholders of the county of Renfrew,
complaining of Agricultural . distress, and praying
relic .—Laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.