Star.
London, England, 1815-04-28 00:00:00

before them; but In no etre where the :object for con:
sideration was of greater importance than the
..pre.
sent. Tie greatest -importance, theiefOre, would be
attached to their proceedings by the nation at large
on this day. He would not enter into the d;scussions
on any abstract principles of the form of Covernment
for France, or on the tights of any particulet family
to the Throne of that ktngdom. He would, on rite
contrary, endeavour to persuade the British Govern-
ment to recognize the Constitution, and to act on the
principles of that Constitution, by endeavouring to
save the country from the !terrors of a war, which
now seemed pending over its head. Twenty years
ago he had the honour of addressing them, tit enforce
the same principles--to accomplish the serne aject.
However the opinions of the Livery might he treated
in certain quarters, the Government renseelculated
upon the progress of knowledge, if they thought the
Livery did not understand the question. At thee
period, he hid deprecated the idea of diet ttine to
lily other country the form of Governmetit which it
should those; that principle had been enc,nced et
the time by Mr. Wilbetforce, in the House of Co:Ti-
mms ; butt it was not acceded to, war was entered
into ; and the dreadful consequences of that war the
Livery well knew. On that ground he nosy stood ;
and it was a matter of indifference whether a country
was well or ill governed ; but with respect to internal
interferences, that was a question which mieht to be
abandoned. On that principle the Revolution of
1683 was established. If o e lot •ed at the conse-
(mixes of such It proceeding, and saw a g: eat nem-
ber of Sovereigns leagued together, for the purpose
of dictating to the people. of another country whst
Sovereign they should have to reign over them, those
consequences blight be dreadful, and there was no
saying where the dictation might end.—(Loud aft-
trnstes.)—We might look at home, and see if any
amendritteat was necessary. The Declaration of the
Anted Sovereigns was a disgrace to them ; and he
was sorry and ashamed to see tl:e Minister of his Bri-
Itenitic Majesty lending his signature to such a Des
claration, which denounced the Head of the French
Government'as "out of the pale of the law, and liable
to public vengeance."—(Lsed ami'auser.)—The cha-
racter or principles of the individual alluded to,
needed nut to be discussed—the great ohject was, the
consequences of such a Declaration. It these Sove-
reigns erect J themselves into a sort of Jury, what
nation er ciinstry was secure froen the effect of it ?
(Loud liplitort.)—What weuld our ancestors have
thouget, when the bigot James quitted :he Throne,
it such means had been resorted to. llc J the
nation would indignantly spurn any attempt et :he
kind, to thrust upon the French Throne, a Cone;
which the people despised. Bat to see the Mioiste: s
of Russia, Prussia, Austria, France (or rather
Prince Talleyrand) Sweden, and even Seem, joining
in such a proceeding, was disgractlel. Stele!, t .0—
the beloved 12srdinand, who had established the in-
quisition, and oppressed the Patriots of that tellterit.
nate country, yet these Ministers had the audacity to
hold out a doctrine so pernicious. Ile lamented teet
means could not be taken to expel ;he £Jr:ed Ferdi-
nand from the Throne of Seain—(Lon/ e/
Ministers had lent themselves to these acts, and wit-
essed other acts of spoti.ei sn by the Congress. So
much for the principles—he would now look at the
consequences. He had heard war formerly deprecia-
ted ; and there were some Gentlemen now behind
him on the Hustings who, at that timeerecommemled
a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull eltogethrr;"
and then we should have the blessings of Peace. The
blessings of Peace had, after many sacrifices on the
part of this country, fallowed, and the people knew
the amount of those blee.iegs, fOr they had got a
pretty large hill to pay for the long pull and the
strong pull.—(lecerranf applayser.)—But they might
complain. Whet attention was paid to their com-
plaints ? They had petitioned lately against the Corn
Bill, as being the means of raising the price of every
article of life to double its amount. What was the
consequence ? In defiance of their Petition, the Mi-
nisters had the effrontery to pass the Bill, laying
thereby exactions upon the people in time of peace
which should be laid only in :a season of war.—(L'aid
aftftlaures.)—lf people would reason from facts, in-
stead of being led away by statements such as
Ministers had wed, they would see, on consulting
common sense by the rule of three, which every
schoolb my could tell, that if the price of corn, at
the commencement of the war, was 44e. and the
war raised it to 60s. and that was to continue as the
peace price, it must, in the event of another war, as
the natural consequence, be raised from SOs. to 120 s.
Yet this was the way in which the people were in-
sulted—the Corn Bill, they were told, was to make
the loaf cheap. So raising the price of Corn was to
lower the price of Bread !—(4/0/auser.) With re-
spect to the individual on the French Throne, for
whose expulsion this war was to be waged, Minis-
ters found something so infatuating, so intoxicating
in power, they set no bounds to their ambition, so
long as they could carry their schemes into execu-
tion. The friends of liberty had seen these sorts of
schemes run from one extreme to the other, and at
length end in tyranny. It we were to judge by corn.
parison, the Constitution at present laid down by the',
Ruler of France was the best of any which other Go-
vernments could produce. However, the broad prin-
ciple upon which he wished the Btitieh Government
to act was, to guard and protect ourselves.; but to
proscribe an individual, was so arrogate to ourselves
that power which alone belonged to the Supreme.—
He was surprised when he saw men of moral con.
duct holding religious opinions and worship ie respect
countenance principles so very infamous. [Here Mr.
Waithman was interrupted with hisses, which pro.
ceeded from the lower end of the H al, and o hich
'was continued for nearly ten minutes, notwithsanding
by far the greater part of the Hall, which was com-
pletely full, were decidedly in favour of the speaker.
The uproar was so great that at length]
The Lotto MAYOR came forward and said—" Gen-
tlemen of the Livery, on my election I promised to
suffer no political opinions to sway my conduct, as a
.pledge of that promise, I have endeavoured to hold
the scales equally, and in pursuance of a Requisition,
I convened you here this day. You will recollect that
I am sworn to maintain impartiality and the public
tranquillity. I have sworn so to do, and I am de-
termined to maintain it. As other persons may
speak on the other side of the question, and as this
Meeting is convened for consideration, you do away
the object, by turning into clamour what should be
temperately discussed. I hope, therefore, you will