Star.
London, England, 1809-05-02 00:00:00

40. h respect to the representation in the House of
Commons. Since 1193, 'lB Peers had been created,
who have influence over 39 Members (Loud cries of
Infamous ! Shamefid !)—besides which six Baronets,
created since that time, have influence over 11 Mem-
bers. Altogether, without the Baronets, there were
206 Members influenced by Peers and the Treasury.
The English Peers made in the present reign returned
141 Members, and the Irish Peers made during the
same period upwards of 50. There were upwards of
200 Members influenced by Peers created during
the presenLreiga, besides the influence they have in
counties, fOThe had been only talking of boroughs. The
counties of Bucks, York, and Cambridge were now re-
presented by the sons of Peers. He hoped the people
would search to the bottom of the principles of the
Borough Faction. .The Borough-mongers in the
House of Commons, to the number of ninety-four, re-
turned 139 Members. Altogether the number of
Members returned by corruption and by influence
was 306. There were also 17 Boroughs, not contain
ing on the average 150 voters in each, which 21
Peers and the Treasury commanded. The whole
Borough-Faction, together with these 17 Boroughs,
returned 327 English Members in the House of Com-
mons. (Shame! Disgrace !) The • English part of
the House of Commons consisted of 513 Members,
from which deducting 327, there was a balance of
186, tolerably uninfluenced men. If therefore these
186 were deducted from the 327, there was a majo-
rity of 141 in favour of the Borough-Faction. The
pensions and places of Members actually sitting in
the House of Commons amounted to £178,000. The
Resolutions which had been read, appeared to con-
tain all the solid principles that could render the re-
presentation effectual and beneficial. He concluded
by declaring, that he wanted the Constitution, the
whole Constitution, and nothing but the Constitution.
Sir F. BURDETT then rose, and said it was his
duty pro forma, to put the resolutions to which they
had agreed, they were carried unanimously, He then
gave as a toast—,4 The cause for which Hampden
bled in the field, and Sidney on the scaffold," drank
with three times three.

Sir FRANCIS then proposed, sg.Mr..lVardle--may

we ever possess an advocate with ability to .detect,
and courage to expose corruption," three times three.
Mr. WARDLE then presented himself to the notice
of the company ; but it was with very great difficulty
he could obtain a hearing, on account of the bunts o(
applause that ensued on beholding this spirited refor-
mer amongst them. " Gentlemen," said he, " the
very kind manner in which you have drank my health,
demands my warmest gratitude. If my parliamen.
tary conduct has been such as to merit. such thanks
from you, I can only say, that being convinced . I
have done but little, I wish to GOD I could have done
more. In the investigation which I instituted, "have
to express my gratitude for the advice and assistance
which I received from your worthy Chairman, who,
although he could not attend in his place on account
of indisposition, supported me most ably by hisjudi-
pious advice and assistance upon all occasions. lam
unwilling .therefore that you should attribute entirely.
to me, that praise which even in the bed of sickness

and anxiety he was entitled to at your hands. It is my

greatest happiness that I can call this worthy Baronet
.my friend, and that I find my political lite has been so
fortunate. The people of England, in giving me support,
did themselves but justice, because I was doing my
best to serve them. My trial was but short ; you
took me up at once, and by your support, gave me
• spirits to go through wi;ii it. Your worthy chair-
man has been fighting your battles, and has been
using his best endeavour; to secure to. you your liber-
ties and your lives. He has been defamed, abused,
and vilified ; and yet he has not received that sup.
port which I have received, although I am convinced
he deserved it much-better, because his abilities are
superior to mine. In ze.ii, however, o serve you, I
will not yield to any man in England. The abuses
that exist in the Government, are p2rf:ctly well known
to you all, and I pledge mys,elf to act to the best of
my 'abilities to remove them ; for it is impossible
that ever I should swerve from that line cf con-

duct which I may say has hid the sanction of the
great mass of the people of Efigland—(cries -of all !
all !). If ever I desert you, I ought to be an out-
cast
of the country ;—or there is nothing 1 can
wish so much as yetir esteem, and that of all the
honest part of the cominiiii:ty. Just before I had
come to this • Meeting, I had a letter put into
my',
hands, from the North of England, I mean from
Sheffield, the contents of which 1 was desired to com-
municate to you. It informs us, that after comiyg
to those Resolutions which the inhabitants of that
place did me the honour of communicating ; they '
come to another Resolution, expressive of the neces-
sity of all corruption being done away by a speedy,
Reformation in Parliament ; a Resolution which was
signed by no less than- 15,000 games.—(Loud huz-
za: !)—I• can also inform you, that there are Resolu-
tions from Paisley, in Scotlarld, signed by upwards
of 4000 people, breathing the same sentiments.—
Such being the case, I think it is impossible that we
should not be encouraged. ,If 'ever you have an idea
that I am wavering from any point, or acting in a
manner unbecoming the Representative of a free
people, I hope you will call me to account, and, by
doing so, give me an opportunity of explaining my-
self. I say this particularly, because there appears a
combination in the public prints to misrepresent .me.
Sonic of these prints say, that 1 am every day compli-
menting the Ministers, and speaking of them, as if they
were men that ought to be trusted. It was no fll•rther
back than Friday last, that 1 arraigned them of every
thing that was corrupt, for not entering their accounts
at the War-office. And when I WAN taxed with abusing
the present Ministers, and being more attached to the
last, I said, 1 wished not to burden any of them with
any sins but their own. 1 am free to confess that the
sins of the last Adininistratien will number with those
of the present. Gentlemen, although our acquaintance
has been short, yet I think it neces,,ary to be thus expli-
cit, for it is your kindness alone that has raised me to
the proud situation I now hold, which I had no right
to expect. Gentlemen, I declare that I belong to no
party, (aNdasurs) ; 1 have no predilection for one
party in preference to :mother. All that I do declare
is, that until the whole system be changed, it matters
pot to the people of Lngland who are the Ministers.
Afore alolasurs.) Therefore, Gentlemen, I may say
to you this night, what I said on Friday night in the
House of Commons, that I do not wish the present
vitastas. to be removed, but that I do wage eternal
Fax wah• the system of cotruptteu that exists, acid I

shall do so until we have honest men to be Ministers
of the country. I have been told by his Majesty's Mi-
nisters, within the wails of the Houseof Commrms, that
if we wanted purity of character, we were to look for
it in men high in office; and at the same time I heard
those who were lately Ministers cheer the idea, which
was as much as to say, We were all Right Honourable
men. Although I do respect many individuals in
that House, many who have seen their errors, but
of 'e now ready to do you a service, 1 have not the
most distant predilection either for the one side or the
other. I have heard a great deal of late, relative to
the danger of Parliamentary Reform, but who are
they•that are so apprehensive of danger in this parti-
cular ? They are your placemen and pensioners ;
your tax-gatherers and your Commissioners of Taxes.
You are all doubtless aware, that within a short
time, a great body of the inhabitants, not only in this
city, but throughout the country, have joined the
standard of Reform; although they were formerly
called Alarmists; but I have reason to know that the
public mind has considerably changed, and that those
who formerly trembled .at the name of my worthy
friend near me, now seek his countenance and protec-
tion. It is the fear.of doing wrong that has prevented
them from doing good; friends alike to the King and
to the people, I say, that we see no danger, because we
know that there is none. We know that the only dan-
ger that can now arise, would be from delay. I have
tocongratulate you, tkat the people ofthe country now
see our worthy Chairman in his true colours, he is the
same man in point of honourable principles, integrity,
and exertion, that ever he was. He has not changed,
but thank Gon, the people of England are changed.
(Loud Meering).—They know how to value his tran-
scendent merits, for without paying a compliment, I
know of no man that can stand equal to him. They
know the purity of his motives, and that every at-
tempt he has made, was for the advantage of the
King, and at the same time for the benefit of the 'people.
I have been attacked as being a Jacobin, but why
need I value such an attack, when I hear how it has
been applied in other quarters ? I did hear the Noble
Lord near me, (Lord Cochrane) acting as the friend
of the sailors, attempt to afford them relief ; it was
then insinuated against him, that he sought to raise a
mutiny in the fleet. The sort of mutiny that that
Noble Lord has raised in the fleet, I think late events
have fully evinced.—(Near, hear, hear!)—He has
raised a mutiny in i fleet, but it was in the fleet of
the enemy; and, unless I am much mistaken, the
Noble Lord will prove himself as great an enemy to
domestic as to foreign foes, and be as capable of
raising a mutiny in the one as in the other. It such
men as he are to be branded with the name of jaco-
bimsm, I should be happy to be honoured with it
also." He then concluded.with proposing the fol-
lowie., toast :

•` Mar the rust jacobir.ical conspirators be deprived of the
powrr of undermining the Constitution."

Mr. Halm TOWNSEND said, it was highly gratify-
ing to his feelings to reflect, that he accorded so per-
fectly in his sentiments with his Worthy and Hon.
Friends Who had preceded him on the present occa
- sion. He begged the Meeting to recollect that there
was no time to be lost, not even a moment, and what-
ever might be the ardent, anxious, and zealous feel-
ings of those who were then present, he thought it
would be absolutely necessary to take the most im-
mediate steps towards convening a Meeting of the
Freeholders of -Middlesex, to consider and come to
Resolutions on the absolute necessity of a Reform of
the Representation in.the Commons House of Parlia-
ment. He flattered himself, that hladdlesex would once
more take the lead and breathe the spirit of patriotism
to the farthest limits of the empire. He lamented
extremely that the worthy Chairman, Sir F. Burdett,
should have been driven from the contest, and that
the county had thereby been deprived of having him
•as their Member at the present moment. He hdised,
however, that before the Meeting separated, they
would agree to a requisition to the Sheriff for
calling a Meeting to take into consideration the
ininivdiate necessity of a Parliamentary Reform ; that
they would appoint a Committee to draw up Re-
solt..tions, to be submitted to the consideration of that
Meeting, and that Sir F. Burdett should be a Mem•
her of that Committee. (NiverralaNtlaase.) Any
resplutions to which the worthy Baronet gave his
sanction, he was fully convinced would meet with
the concurrent approbation nat only of the discerning
and patriotic part of the County of Middlesex, but
with those ut the same descript:o %from one extremity
of the empire to the other. He begged leave to re.
mill 1 this Meeting that a war was supposed to be on
the eve of breaking out between Austria and France.
It was more than probable that at the very moment
he was speaking, a severe conflict had taken place
between those two powers. If the event should hap-
pen to be disastrous to Austria, our ally, he should
not be at all surprised if fresh alarms were attempted
to be raised, and that such unfortunate result should
be made the pretence of a necessity to suspend the
Habeas Corpus Act, and give the country the benefit
and the blessing of being subjected to martial law.
—He hoped, however, if any such foul attempt
should be made, that the people would be on the alert,
and would nut by their apathy, permit the country to
be afflicted by one of the most direful and oppressive
measures that could ever be imposed on a free and
enlightened nation. He was happy to think that every
individual in the Assembly he was then addressing had
a great stake in the Constitution, and in the real in-
terests of the country, whilst the placemen land pen.
sioners were in that predicament, that if a conqueror
should unfOrtunately at any time make head against
the country, they would be in no danger, for there
could be no doubt but he would be very ready to give
them an assurance of their having those places and
pensions continued to them ; and from their great
predilection for these good things, he was afraid they
might many of them be found as well disposed to re-
ceive the wages of corruption from one hand as ano-
I This had been found to be the we in other
coutitries, and it behoved us to take especial care there
s:iould not be. a possibility of its fatal repetition taking
place in:this. Corruption was the hydra which had
destroyed all the Governments on the Continent, one
aro:. the other ; and if this country did not strangle
it before it gained greater strength, its-doom would
be inevitably sealed, and its downfall must be the
dreadful consequences. If he had not conceived this
to be a matter on which his worthy and honourable
friends had seemed to him to be too sanguine, it was
not his intention to have trespassed on the time of the
Meeting at all ; but feeling as he did on the occasion,
he could not hut offer the ebservations he had made.

1F- •


He thanked the Meeting for their kind attention, and
concluded by proposing the following toast : •
" The gallant castigator of our foreign foes, Lord Coen' ANL;
and may he meet with equal success and greater support when
he joins the patriotic band against our domestic enemies.
Lord COCHRANE said, he would only desire every
individual in that meeting to place himself in the situ-
ation in which he then stood, and they would imme-
diately be a pledge of the feelings with which he
(Lord Cochrane) was deeply impressed. For the
very high honour they had conferred on him in drink-
ing his health, in the distinguished manner, and with
the warmth and enthusiasm they had done, he beg-
ged leave to return them his warmest thanks. On a
former occasion, when he had the honour to address
them from the hustings, he had candidly told them
what were his sentiments with regard to the necessity
of a Parliamentary Reform ; and at the same time
expressed his hopes that the day was not far distant
when that so desirable event would be brought about
in a proper constitutional manner. He was extremely
happy in the idea that since that time circumstances
had taken place which had produced results highly
favourable to his former opinion on that subject, and
Irani what he saw of the present feeling and disposition
of the great body c f the people, he could not bet antici-
pate the most flattering and beneficial consequences to
the dearest and most important interests-of the nation.
No man could more sincerely rejoice than he did at the
present promising aspectof affairs and after the very
able and eloquent speeches which had been delivered
by his Hon. Friends uho preceded him, it would be
altogether unnecessary for him to trespass long on
their time and patience. Abuses of the most flagrant
and destructive nature had been proved to exist, and
it was impossible they could be too soon attacked, and
it possible destroyed. He was very glad to find this
Meeting and the country so fully impressed with the
absolute necessity of a Parliamentary Reform, in the
producing an accomplishment of which they would
derive but very little strength from his opinion. He
could not however but so far give it, as to say that he
thought the must prudent and effectual way to obtain
it, would be by a respectful Address to his Majesty,
stating the necessity of the measure, and requesting.
he would ..)e graciously pleased to accede to it. His
Majesty, on his Accession.tothe Throne, had expres-
sed it to be one of the most grateful feelings of his
heart that 414,• was born a Briton ; and'he had not a
doubt on his mind but that his Majesty would hehap'y
to lend a Royal and car to the petition ofa loyal
and patriotic People. There was one thing which he
could not avoid mentioning with respect to the con-
duct of his Majesty's Ministers in the House of Com-
mons, and that was the total neglect of all public
business. He was really shocked when he was abroad
and read an account of what had passed in the House,
to see the trifling accounts with which the proceed-
ings were filled, and could not but blush at being the
subject ofa country whose most important debates
were wasted on such unimportant subjects ; and he
could not but lament that Ministers should pass the
whole morning studying the cavils they should malc.
use of at night. His Lordship repeated his thanks
' for the honour they had conferred on him, and con-
cluded by giving the.following toast :
" The Electors of Westminster; and may the splendour of
their extimple animate their country to imitation."
Which was received with universal applause.
Mr. W. Surrir said, he had now been upwards of
thirty years the constant and steady friend of Reform
in Parliament. He had commenced his career on that
subject in a Society, the name of which, he believed,
was now nearly forgotten, viz. the Society for Con-
stitutional Information ; he then went from that to
the Society of the Fsiends of the People, who, he be-
lieved, were as firm and true friends to Reform as any
set of men that ever lived, or may hereafter, and he
would recommend the petition presented bT theM to
Parliament as the text of that Meeting. Much, how.
ever, as he desired reform, and* long as he had la-
boured its accomplishment, he could not avoid gua-e-
-, ing them against being too sanguine in their expecta-
tions. They had he feared, much greater difficulties to
struggle with than they were aware of. They had
ilot only the opposition of the corrupt borough-holders
and borough-mongers, but also that of the corrupt
voters throughout the kingdom ; and the numberof
. those, he could assure them, was by no means small.
They had also the opposition of the prejudiced to en-
' counter, and they were very numerous indeed. In
the county. of York, in particular, Mr. Fawkes, who
. was appointed to attend that Meeting, but who was
prevented from attending by indisposition, had ex-
pressed an opinion, that the County of York was by.no
means ripe for the measure of a Parliamentary Re-
form, nor ready to second the County of Middlesex in
the present attempt.. At the same time that he used
this doubtful language, he hoped the present meeting
and the general friends to reform would only receive
it as an additional stimulus to their zeal and activity,
recommending to them, at the same time, persever-
ance, moderation, and, above all, patience ; for that
faculty
i of the mind they would have occasion to ex-
ercise n a very great degree.
Major CAR- WRIGHT said, he felt himself called,
upon to state a few facts, in consequence of the speech
of the Honourable Gentleman who had just sat down.
As to the county of York, they had in some measure
been poisoned by reports, that this Meeting was to
be the focus of a revolutionary furnace ; but he had
in his hand a letter from Mr. Fawkes, received that
very morning, in which he assures him indisposition
alone had prevented his attending the Meeting ; but
he had no doubt when they heard of the Meeting, and
others, proceeding with temper and moderation, the
people of Yorkshire would be as ready to join in the
measure of obtaining Reform in Parliament as. those
of any other county in the kingdom.
Mr. WAITHMAN said, he should not perhaps have addressed
the Meeting, but for the extraordinary speech delivered by the
Honourable Gentleman who spoke last but one. The tendency
of that speech was only to destroy the unanimity, and damp the
fervour of the Meeting. The Honourable Gentleman had stated
all the difficulties in the way of Reform, but not how they were
' to be conquered. He had noticed the former efforts of his po-
litical friends, and seemed to infer, that because they had been
unsuccessful, the present movers of question must be equally
so at present. He would not deny that there were honourable
men, who meant sincerely, among those Gentlemen ; yet it ap-
peared to him, tha: in their exertions, their principal object was
to perplex their political adversaries, the Ministers for the time
being. He (Mr. Waithman) could not agree with Mr. Smith in
his melancholy forebodings, and thought the present a most fa-
vourable time for Reform.
Between ten and eleven Sir F. BURDETT left the room, and
was attended by Colonel WARDLE &c. Major Cnarweiotir
continued in the Chair for a short time. Mr. Cnett.i.
with an accompanying speech, proposed as a toast the memory of
Charles James Fox, but Major CARTWRIGHT having left the
Chair, and great noise and disorder prevailing, the toast was not
regularly put. A few then remained for purposes of conviviality.