Star.
London, England, 1812-08-06 00:00:00

property, and can take it OM at t4idr *mere—are by the I Ise dirinftteei of opinion. and &kilning before the
same nu any, bedoine Masters of the Crean andits Esc/seiner
. people of England the great questlon of Parliamen.
7th, That this Meeting knows but of one crime meriting pu- nary Reform He thought that this manliness wee
nishme.,t by a confiscation of their estite, of which the people of
England have bete guilty, namely, the crime of having too long highly commendable in a Gentlenian coming from
submitted to taxation without Representation ; a crime of which , the sister country, which was so interesting to try in s
they must speedily repent, or inevitably sink into a slavery the 1 variety of respects : and he was ettreinely glad that
most abject and the most hopeless. he had received so patient an hearing. He must say, '
eth, That as the House of Commons exercises the authority
el a Coon of Judicature, with exclusive jurisdiction over what- . he felt the contrast to be rather unfavourable to the
ever relates to the Elective and Legislative rights of the people, Gentlemen of England, who appeared to be so lost
so as no redress of any injury touching the same can be elsewhere , to the due sense of the difficulties and dangers of the
obtained, the Meeting, on behalf of themselves and the Nation
times they lived in, that none of them had thought
at large, will present to that House apetiiion of Right, claiming
;proper to attend the present meeting, for the purpose
Representation co-extensive with Taxation in Annual Puha-
ments, according to the Constitution ; sad demanding that— of benefiting their countrymen by their opinions and
IN itistiCe be neither denied nor delayed," according to Mains ' advice. The Gentlemen of this country appeared to ,
Char a.
him entirely to abandon the station which naturally '
. These Resolutions being pot by the High Bailiff, belonged to them in society I and to have sunk into
Mr. HARRIS declared, that the Resolutions which i total indifference as to the liberty of their country.
had been now read had his full concurrence. He i They seemed to have sunk into such a state of apathy,
/was satisfied that they were founded in truth, and that as to incur suspicion of their being the willing and
it was the incumbent duty of the Meeting not to omit ready tools of corruption. They seemed so dead to
this opportunity of expressing their opinion on a sub- i public feeling, that they wete ready to bear quietly
ject in which the country was so materially interested.' that their estates should be confiscated under their
He trusted that they might still have an opportunity i noses. Their great fear appeared, to be that the peo.
of expressing the sentiments of the Inhabitants of pie would assume their proper dignity, and recover
Westminster in a fuller meenting ; and he was also 1 those rights, which in ancient times the Gentlemen
hopeful, that the expression of similar feelings would , of England were ever the foremost to assert ; and
become universal throughout the country. lie, there- for which, if necessary, they were formerly pre.
fore, was happy in seconding the Resolutions. I pved to shed their blood. He could not agree with
The question was then put, and the Resolutions the Gentleman who spoke last, that Reform would
were carried unanimously. I produce no change in public men. If public men did
Major CARTWIGIIT then submitted ,his petition to not grow more honest, they would at least feel that
the Meeting, which was of considerable length ; but, it was more dangerous to be knaves (A/olitare.) The
as may be supposed, it only amplified the sentiments Gentlema?t had said that men of fortune would be
of the above Resolutions by arguments and illustre- the most likely to be returned. That was very true p
tions, contending, that " a radical Reform only can and if there was nothing to be made by the trade of
relieve the country from the grievances and burdens Parliament, the Representatives would be more likely
under which it at present labours. Give the people to be men of some fortune. He denied that the per.
a radical Reform, and (said the petition in conclu- sons now chosen were men of fortune: they came into
lion) by such a proceeding the English Constitution that House to get hold of the property of the country s
would once more rise from its own ashes, with re. and when they got it, they then triumphantly invule-
newed life and improved energy, for the benefit, the ed the public with that fortune which they had scr
tranquillity, the happiness, and the glory of our coup- acquired. If Members were returned by annual elec. .
try to the end of time." 1 tions, they would be obliged to keep short accounts
Mr. GEORGE HARRIS represented the present pe- with their constituents ; which, according to the old ',
clod to be one most inauspicious for the final accom- proverb, was the way to make e long friends." They
plishment of their views of Reformation. The Royal would sot have time then to cultivate that foul and
Personage who at present represented the Monarch of corrupt connection with the Treasury Beoch which
these kingdoms,had made a veryfruitlessendzavour to they now do. He would speak of the Treasury 1
form a strong and efficient administration, conforma- Bench, and not of Ministers—for the latter were
ble to the vote of the House of Commons. These merely as straw floating on the stream ; although,
persons stood aloof, nor would they condescend to whoever happened to be placed upon the Treasury
lend their abilities to assist their country in its danger, Bench, had the same influence as if sitting on the
unless they were placed at the head of the Govern- tripod, and every word which fell from their mouths I
ment. In consequence of that refusal, the people had was like the decision of an oracle, which absolutely
beheld those very persons return again to the ma- governed the minds and the voteeof majorities at
nagement of public affairs, on whom the House of all times, as that House is now constituted. The
Commons had passed a vote of censure, which de- House of Commons was usually called the Guardian
dared their inability to conduct any longer the Go- of the Public Purse—he thought it might more truly
vernment. Now it appeared the people had got two be called. the Cut-purse of the Realm. He thought
formidable enemies to make head against ; one was it would be much better to have-no guardian at all
their old and dire enemy the Oligarchy at home, for the public purse, than such a guardian as that
the other their bitter but foreign enemy Bonaparte. body was ; as he thought it would be much better
By a proper and immediate and Constitutional Par- to have nobody at all to take care of his purse, than
liamentary Reform, we would render the warlike pre- a person who would hold it open to any thief who
parations of our foreign foes vain, but if we failed in ', chose to put his hand in it—(Afiedasise.) The dan.
accomplishing that salutary measure, we must con- gets of the country were allowed, on all hands, to '
template submission, sooner or later, to a foreige and be great ; but he was not one of those who only ape
victorious foe. He concluded by seconding the pe- prehended danger from the foreign foe, but thought,
tition. i on the contrary, that there was much more immi.
Mr. MARTIN, Member of Parliament for Galway, ' sent danger from our domestic enemies. When ha •
then came forward, and stated, that he was a Gen- f 4 strongly for his country, he did not understands
aleman pertaining to the Sister Kingdom, and was by the word country, either houses, or streets, or
anxious to inform the people of his opinions upon the lands, or even the people themselves, unless Liberty
present subject. (Hear him, Hear him !) He ap- , and the Constitution united them into a form of so.
proved of many of the sentiments which the petition ciety, which deserved the name of country. For ex.
contained, but he confessed that he could hardly ample, if the population of a State were ever to nu.
augur favourably of the reception of a petition 1 merous, hut obliged to crawl upon the surface of the
couched in such terms as the present one. ( How, how?) ' earth, like worms that must not even turn when they
He approved of the wholesome censure bestowed ; are trodden upon without meeting severe remelted.
upon those different Parliamentary parties who had I slop, such a population would not form a country.
refused to rally around the banners of their country. 1 When it was said that the country would be destroyed
displayed at a moment of extreme peril. (Hear, hear! if conquered by the French, nobody meant to say
Bravo, bravo !) He was happy to find, at an opi- that the land would disappear, or the houses. Lon•
nioa which he had always cherished was become ma- don might still be as great a city as it is now ; and -
nifestly true. He believed that no place on the earth there might be still country gentlemen occupied, au -
contained so much good sense as the British empire, they now are, in buying and selling sheep, and vying
and particularly the metropolis. He had felt an in- with each other in their agricultural improvements.
stance of it now, for they had borne his disapproval All this might be the case, even if Napoleon were is
of some of their measures with patience. The peti-1 the square in which he had the honour of addressing .
tion had his high approbation for reprobating the con- i them ; and, therefore, those who had talked of the
duct of men, who began to arrange their private i i
destruction of the country, could only mean the die'
p'iques when they should have been wielding their i :traction of that frame of society which is the pees. •
.
eloquence in support of their country. It happened in 1 liar pride and boast of Englishmen. If the ancient
one of the Grecian States, that a man lifted up his i liberties of the country were entirely taken away, and
armed hand to smite a man, in one of the popular as-' the new tax on capital, in addition to the other tames,
semblies, who had disagreed"with him in opinion.— I should amount to a confiscation of every man's land
e Hear me, (said the other, who viewed his uplifted ; and property, then would the people of England be in
hand with indifference) let us first fight and conquer a more unfortunate situation than the people of any
the public enemy, and then we will have leisure to ; other country ever were. When Jos: ph wrote to the
think of our individual wrongs." (Loud applause.) In ! people of Egypt, that Pharaoh had bought them, and
his opinion, Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning were , all their lands, it was however added, that for their
highly blameable in acting as they had done. Con- lands and their liberty, Pharaoh would givethcm bread
coning the annual Parliaments recommended in the (a la k) : whereas the people of England were rob.
Petition, he was at a loss to discover what good such 1 bed of their liberty, at the same time that it bread
an alteration would serve. From the nature of the I was taken out of their mouths (eleedesite. lie could
Parliamentary duties, men affluent in circumstances assure them, that every exertion whit hr e could .
could alone be returned.—(Honed men !) —Well ! I , make, either there or in any other place, should al.
applaud the sentiment ; but the unceasing recurrence : ways be made against such a system. As it had
of Parliamentary labour required something more been mentioned, that no member could be found to
than honesty to make those labours benehcial.— I second the Address which he felt it his duty to pro.
(We'll pay him, we'll 12g him !) Excellent ! No man i pose lately to the House of Common', he thought it
.
eel( • - •sPoole them that his worth-

could address the pe-ople of England without becom-
ing wiser from the experiment. He admired to hear I
the public voice exclaiming it would pay its Repre-
sentatives—such sentiments did honour to the public I
'mind. That, to be sure, was one way of being inde-
rndent.; but the expences would come heavy.—(No,
No! ten times at much !)—He wished well to the cause
of Reform ; but ,he thought the most auspicious way
to attain it was to petition Parliament to examine the
State of the Representation of the People, and pro.
ceed accordingly.—(No, no, no ! o.ff, off, off!) Hs
would not give a negative to the Petition.
Sir FRANCIS BURDETT then came forward. He
began by saying, that after the able speech they had
'heard from his frietwil Major Cartwright, the venera-
ble and constant patron and supporter of every at-
tempt to procure Reform, he should not, in the pre-
sent unfavourable circumstances of the weather (it
vat an incestant rain), and when his sentiments were
so perfectly known, have thi.ught it necessary to
come forward at all, if it had not been for the obser-
vations which had fallen from the Gentleman who
last addressed them. He must say, that he felt
obliged to him for coming forward in the manly way
.that he had done, and latvoly and candidly stating

necessary to inform sy colleague
(Lord Cochrane) would certainly have attended to
second it, if in had not at that time been confined to
his bed by severe sickness. As to the representatiots
of the country, it had been stated, and offered to be .
proved in the House, that 154 individuals, Peers
and Commoners, returned an absolute majority
of the Representatives of England. It was those • ,
individuals whom he had called sn oligarchy;
and it was against this system, equally degrading to
the Throne and ruinous to the People, that he *as
always contending. He could hardly conceive any
slavery Worse than this. Corrupt Judges and cor-
rupt Courts of Justice were great evils, but were by
no means to be compared as an evil to a corrupt Le-
gislature, that bad the power to shield all manner of
corruption. After a variety of other observations he
concluded by expressing a firm hope, that the Peti•
tions of the people for a Parliamentary reform wou'd
be signed by so decided a majority of the nation,
. •
that their -*
(Loud
On

tion and
17 agreed

.~

•
•

..1 •
heir object must be ultimately accomplished—.
laNdatoe.)
the Motion of Major Ceara's-moor, the Peti.
.nd the remaining Resolutions Were uoanimous+
reed to—The hilet4 &btu bruk: up.