Star.
London, England, 1822-08-24 00:00:00

' en SFiVIPVY- Prkig

REFORM MEETING AT YORK.

Our Readers are aware thiit a letter was published
some short time since, by Wal.l4M FAWKES, Esq. of
Tarnley Hall, in this County, citiling upon the No-
bility, Gentry, Clergy, and Freeholder,, friends to
Reform, to meet him at Etttidge's Hotel, on Thurs-
day, in the race week, to confer onithe best steps to
be taken towards forwarding that great measure,
The Meeting took place on Thur-day, at twelve
o'clock, at Ettrid,:e's, and was very numerously and 4.
'respectably. attended. Among the Gentlemen pre.
tent were the fol:owing:
It. Chaloner and M. Wyvill, Esqrs. the Membert for the
City; G. Wentworth, Esq. of Wentworth Park; the Rev.
Wyvill; 1). Sykes,. EN. M.P. Dr. Lawson; S. Cromp-
ton, Esq. 111. P. Baker, Esq. D. Gaskill, Esq. Rev. T.
Johnstone; J. Seholfield, Esq. F. Mande, Req. and --••
Dawkesworth. Esq..
_ _

Before a• Chairman was appointed, the ell's for
Mr. FliwKEs became very general in the Room.
Mr. FAwlcEs then cameforwaid and addie,ed the
-Meeting. Befcre he entered upon the imi•ottant
business which had that day called then, together,
and before he submitted to their consideration t;,e ob-
ject which at that moment attracted their attention
and their hopes, he should take the liberty of saying
a few words in apology of the peculiar part which he
had taken in the present transactions, and in explana-
tion of his conduct in calling them together that day;
conduct which had been attributed by some to arro-
gance and presumption on his part, and by others to
• a wanton, deliberate, and ill-timed intention to dis-
tUrb the peace of the county. When he reflected
upon the great magnitude, importance, and opulence
of the county of York, and upon the influence which
it exercised over the councils of the realm, he was
surptised7tharthis subject had not been presented to
their notice at an earlier period, especially as it had
latterly-forced itself upon the minds of all thiliking
men.as the only method left to extricate the country
from its existingdistress, as all the leading counties of
England,had already. taken some important meiisures
'to obtain it, andas thousands had been converted to
a sense ofits necessity-by recent events, who had pre.
viously 'pewit the most decided hostility against it.
Under. these eireomstancesi when he reflected on the
marmeriu- which the early years of his public lite had
been-employed, during which-he -had advocated the
,great cause of Parliamentary Reform in that room
with many of those illustrious characters who hid
since been taken from- amorig them, and especially
. with one whose name ought never to be' mentioned
without the utmost honour, gratitude and reverence ;
he meant the upright, - independent, and lamented
father of a'Gentleman who then stood before , him,
inheriting, with the name and fortune,* all the vir•
tues and feelings of the late patriotic Mr. Wyvill.
(Applause). When he cootiasted his own offcrts at
that time s ith his own supineness at present, he felt
the difference greatly ; he thought that hesliotild be
guilty of a dereliction of duty, if he did not make
some exertion to rescue the county from its present
inactivity ; he grew restless and impatient, and he
therefore determined to struggle through all. the
obloquy which he knew he must incur by inviting
again to a Public Meeting all those who still cherished'
affection to the good cause, and by again unluiling
in the county of York the constitutional standard of
Parliamentary Reform. These were the motives which
had induced him to hold out his late public intritaa.
• tion to the County, and to call upon it to endeavour
to infuse a greater portion of popular strength into
Parliament, on the ),roger constitution of shish de-
pended the security of the liberties, fortunes, and lives
of the People of England. It had, host ever, been
asked by his o.)ponents—and that too with an air of
triumph—" Why disturb the peace of the cout.ti now?
Why renew again a stale subject ? Why pester us with
declamationstegarding Parliamentary Reform, which
have never yet been brought forward withou being
as regularly refuted ? Wily drag the question from
a state of obscurity to which the at guments of its op-
' ponents appeared to have consigned it everlastingly?'
For his own part, he must be pea mitred to observe,
'that whine the record of this proud achievenlent, so
much boasted of by their adversaries, was to be found,
he did- not know. Were they to look for it in the
series'of acts which had distinguished the conduct of
Ministers since the question of reformation had been
first broached ? or was it to be found in the allega-
tions of the Petitions of the friends of Reform, which
still lay unrefuted on the table of the House of Corn-
mons? or was it to be found in the Resolutions to
which the Political AssOciation of that County had
come-in that very room in 1782, when upwards of
100 Country Gentlemen declared their conviction of
the necessity of Reform,. and in a spirit of prophecy
predicted all the evils which would arise from its non-
adoption, and which were at that very moment
staring them in the face? or was it depicted to them
in tlle flourishing state. of the sinecurists, placemen,
and horoughmongers—those sturdy supporters of a
corrupt Administration?—(Cheers).—lf the cause of
Reform was in such a desperate condition as its adver-
saries stattd, solely one might expect that all who
advocated it would he re:idy to start forward to rescue
it from the durance with which it was threatened.
If, however (continued Mr. Face kes), I am asked why
I should think it necessary, at this moment, to bring
forward the question of Reform ? I can say, that my
answer is to be found in the present dangerous situa-
tion of the country, and in the language which has
been expressed inahe last Session ot Parliament. It
is to be tbund in the contemplation of the misery of
one part of this realm, and in the absolute ruin of the
other : in the starvation of the people of Ireland in
the midst of plenty, and the approaching misery and
resin of this portion of the kingdom. My answer is
to be found in the profuse and unnecessary expendi.
tore of the- public money, which has lavished one
billion and a half in 29 years—an expense which
amounts to 1:500,000-for every working day :in the
immense presture of 'taxation, which weighs down