Star.
London, England, 1815-02-17 00:00:00

COUNTY' MELTING ifT JIACKNET.

Yesterday, at one o'clock, the Sheriff of Middlesex,
Messrs. I.euan and RSAY, took the Chair; and the Un-
der Sheriff read the Requisition for calling the present
Meeting, the purport of which was to petition Parlia-
ment for the Repeal of the Property Tax. The
names to it were JOHS CARTWRIGHTI W. BENTLEY,
HARVEY CHRISTI* COMM, ke.
As soon as the Requisition was read,
Mr. Sheriff LEIGH informed the Meeting they were
convened there in consequence of the paper which
had been just mad to them, and that he and his col-
league were ready to hear what any 'Gentleman pre-
sent had to offer on the subject.
Major CARTWRIGHT then addressed the Meeting.
He arid, that when an individual stepped forward to
complain of and to stem a torrent of corruption so
powerful and overwhelming as that which now ra-
vaged this country, it was necessary he should gtwd
himself against the misrepresentation of the venal
tongues and venal pens which the supporters of this
corruption never failed to keep in their pay. For
that purpose, he would wish, with the leave of the
Meeting, to follow the example of a Gentleman of
high rank and great popularity, and request their
permission to read his speech, which would have the
further good effect of saving their time, as he could
by that means deliver himself with greater facility
and speed than if he were to do so from memory
alone. lie then proceeded to read his speech at great
length, in which he endeavoured to sheer, from the
most celebrated authorities, that no tax in this coun-
try could be imposed which was oppressive, but it
must, on that account, be unconstitutional. This, he
argued, was peculiarly the case with respect to the
Property Tax • and such an engine of arbitrary power,
in a country ;id to be free, could. not have operated
so long as a scourge on the people if they had been
fairly represented. The grand remedy, therefore,
for this and every other evil of the kind, was a Re-
form in the Commons House of Parliament, without
which, though this odious Tax should now be done
away, it would ere long be brought forward in some
Giber shape. Alter drawing an awful picture of the
situation of this country at the present moment, front
this necessary reform not having taken place in 1790,
when a petition for that purpose bad been presented to
Parliament, and disregarded—from which disregard
sprung the-unnecessary war, that caused the expen-
diture which game birth to the odious tyranny of the
Property Tax. He congratulated the Meeting on
the awakening state of the public mind, from which
he ventured to hope that the foul vapours of selfish.
ness and faction—that the dense mists of ignorance,
frivolity, and prejudice, by the joint effect of all which
the political atmosphere had been rendered as un-
'wholesome as a Walcheren, might, by Gon's provi-
dence, suddenly melt and vanish, and our constitu-
tion burst forth in full splendour, enlightening all
minds, cheering all hearts, uniting all wills. Then,
Gentlemen, said he, but not till then, shall you see
hurled down from their lofty pedestals those abomi-
nable, reptiles, monsters, and demons,. the gods of
corruption, whose images, like the plagues of Egypt,
now every where blast our light—whose Pandemo-
nian Temples are seen in every rotten Borough, and
whose tottering cathedral, once a Christian chapel,
stands near the Treasury. Having thus troubled
you with my sentiments on your evil and its remedy,
your bane and its antidote, with your leave• I will
move the Resolutions 1 have, to offer. He then read
the Resolutions throughout, which Pere very long,
and which, from the
.first to the eighth, foamed ver-i
b tam the Petition to he presented to the Houseof
Commons on this subject, which Petition concluded
with the following prayer, That the prem..
unconstitutional Property Tax may_ wholly cease on
the sth April next; and that your Honourable House

•
witl, Aiwa daisy, Mu your slacks thOusbes to a
fill restoration of those ocreerighte of the Ps**
in the constant violation of which, legislation and
taxation are at present unconstitutionally exercised ; a
course which hath already been prolific of countless
calamities, and which, as it appears to your Peti-
tioners, bath hitherto directly led, and so long as per-
severed in, must continue directly to lead, to the
erecting of a settled tyranny on the ruins of public
liberty—an experiment of the must gloomy and hor-
rid aspect, and pregnant with nought but the direst
evils to our deeply-tujured and unhappy country 1"
Mr., BZNTIALY seconded the resolutions. The Go-
vernment of the country had cajoled the people into
all those measures that had been ruinous to OW
finances. After twenty years we found ourselves in
the situation of a ruined people. The country had
been deluded by the false statements of Ministers, of
the flourishing situation of oar affairs, into an unne-
cessary war. Such was the state of the country that
it was impossible for the farmer to exist, without
some relict being granted him. The landlord should
lower his rents, and then tae farmer would be able
to supply the country, without the necessity of having
recourse to foreign supply. The National Debt
amounted to above 900 millions, and the fee simple
of all the land in the kingdom, at forty years pur-
chase, amounted to no more than GOO millions..
This looked like the case of a steward to a Noble-
man, who tells his master that his title is disputed,
and that it mast be defended. He is allowed to do
so—and after twenty years litigation, lie comes to
his LOrd, miff says, "We have won the dol."-
4i Well, but what has become of my rents ?"---" Why
my Lord, your rents have been all absorbed by the
law-suit, and your estate is also mortgaged for more
than its value—but then you; title is clear and undis-
puted." Such was the situation of this country aster
a ruinous war.

It was agreed, that to save time the question on
the Resolutions should be put upon the whole toge-
ther, and afterwards that on the Petition which grew
out of them.

Mr. Maxim opposed the whole, chiefly on the
ground that a reform of Parliament had been intro-
duced into the argument of the respectable Mover,
when no mention had been made in the requisition
of such a measure being intended to be proposed.
He thought such a proceeding eras neither 'foie nor
candid because be was certain, had it been men.
tioned in the requisition, the meeting would have
been much more numerous. He had always objected
to a Reform in Parliament, and from what he had
now heard, was not at all inclined to alter his opi-
nion ; at the same time, he did not the less respect
those who differed with him because they held a con-
trary opinion. As to the Property Tsr, be did not
view it in the same light with the respectable mover
of the question. It had carried us safely and honour.
ably through the war, atid placed us on our present
enviable situation of enjoying the blessings of peace.
Mr. Bvso apologized to the Meeting tor offering
himself to their attention at so early a period of the
debate, but he was under the necessity of attending
another duty, which was as important to the interests
and dignity of the county as the present—he meant
a motion of which he had given notice respecting the
Treasurer for the county. • He hoped, therefore, thit
ras soon as he had delivered his sentiments, the meet-
, log would excuse his immediate departure. He had
always been, and always should be, a staunch f;ond
.to a R.eft..rm in Parliament; he bad often assured his
constituents of this, and now begged leave to repeat,
th'at Le would vote for such a Reform as should give
to every man a right of voting who contributed to the
support of the Government by a direct taxation—
(4filtlatiser.) As to the Property Tax, he had al-
ways viewed it as an odious tax ; not on account of
what he paid te it himself, but from its oil:restive et-
fects on others. As a Landholder he knew well he
only paid a tenth, and noinore. His tenants might
perhaps have been in, many instances obliged to pay
more, but this particular county, which 1:e had the
honour to represent, contained in it the City of West-
minuer and a
.large district besides, in which there
were innumerable shopkeepers. This was the de-
scription of personsowhose hardships he most sensibly
felt and deplored. They were obliged Co pay a tenth
of what was imposed on them, and if they refused on
the score that the assessment was not correct, they
were subject to an inquisitorial power that could pry
into their most secret concerns, and, to avoid which,
they would submit to an imposition grievous in the,
extreme, but, perhaps, less destructive tban the dis-1
covery of their real circumstances—a mode of salva-
tion nearly equivalent to death itself—(4Wasuer.)
Entertaining these sentiments, the resolutions and pe-
tition bad his approbation, and, having declared this,
he should beg leave to withdraw, in order to dis-
charge that other part of his duty to which he had
pledged-himself before the present meeting was ap-
pointed. (He then withdrew.)
Mr. Miu.tasa said, his duty as a Magistrate also.
called him to attend the same business as his Ho;
nourable Colleague was about to attend, and for that
reason he should likewise beg leave to retire, which
he did immediately after Mr. Byng.
The question that the Resolutions which had been
read do past, was then put, and appeared to be una-
nimously carried but on the contrary spew of hands
being requested by the Sheriff, three solitary emblems
under that designation were held up against it. The
sameeru the case on tlse question that the petition
do yass.•
Thanks were then moved by Major CA.UTWRIOUT,
and unanimously voted to the Sheriffs, for their con-
vening the meeting, and for their impartial conduct.
Mr. Sheriff Rate expressed himself very !ipp; dor.
his conduct had given satisfaction to the Mc link;,
but candour would not permit him to let thew belga-
taw without his declaring that he did no: approve
either of the Resolutions or Petition.

Major CARTWAIGSIT raid, that this Meeting tidying
been held under the authority of the Sheriff of Mid-
dlesex made it a Corgi Cow t he thereiore moved,
that the Sheriffs &MT countersign. the Petition in
their official capacity, which would remove all objec-
tions that might occur on the ground of the w.on of
numbers.

The Sheriffs objected to do this till they had more
'seriously considered the question; and it they found
it assenary their signature should appear in their ofcial
cheracterrtbey would not object to it.—Loadappiaisss.
Thanks were unanimously 'voted to Mr. BM
for his feral conduct in Parliament, and pilticulaily
for bis ieclatratioos made this day.