Star.
London, England, 1822-04-30 00:00:00

•
to this, in other of the country. When he looked.
back toe the viorntsce of the principal actors upon
these casions, he could not wonder, much less
could he condemn the Magistrates for not actin g.--
That the distress was very great in the county of Nor-
folk, he could not deny, and if that had not been
made a handle of, he would say, that perhaps the
Magistrates were remiss in not pushing forward this
Petition. It was a fact, that the two unfortunate men
who had been executed there, confessed that their
only object was to compel the farmers to raise their
wages ; and there were now in the jails 100 others,.
whose crime was, perhaps, the same. But did the
House forget how, upon some late occasions, indivi-
duals had been commended by men of the first rank,
whose sole object, he did not hesitate to say, was to
render more acute the feelings: f the people as tat
cause of their distresses? ..He had only to refer them
to the late Surrey Meeting, where a Noble Lord
(whose name he did not care to conceal), Lord King,
made a speech, in which he launched out the most
extravagant eulogium upon Mr. Cobbett, and which
speech was afterwards published in the shape of a
pamphlet, and dispersed through every part of Nor-
folk. The consequence was, that the county had a-
greater share of Mr. Cobbetes company than ever it
had before, and he (Mr. Wodehouse) believed thati
the reason he was so much there was, because, as the
distress was greater, so was the field for his exertions
enlarged—(Hear). But was it not to be regretted and
deplored, that a man of Lord King's rank—a Peer
of the Realm—should thus stoop to laud a man, re-
markable above all for his disregard of every right of
property?—.(Hear, hear). He protested against this
conduct of the Noble Lord ; and looking at the dan-
gerous consequences which might follow it, he could
not view it in any other light than as unworthy of
himself—unkind to the people to whom he ought to
be an example, and unwise in the extreme to so-
ciety—(Hear). It was by such proceedings as these
that the Magistrates were justified in withholding
their sanction from the Meeting to which this Petition
related—(Hear). There only remained one other
topic to touch upon, and that was a complaint which
he was bound to make against his Hon. Colleague,
for having alluded to a conversation which took place
between him (Mr. Wodehouse) and a Noble Marquis,
in which the Noble Lord was stated to have given an
opinion, that he did not think any Petitions respect-
able which were not signed by men of rant. Surely
it could not be necessary to defend the Noble Lott]
from this charge; for it was impossible that in a free
country like this, any man could say that a Petition
was not respectable which was not signed by men of
rank. He stated this, not so much from any dinar-
sition to be the champion of the Noble Lord, as be-
cause he thought it but due to him to state the matter
as it occurred. And of that Noble Lord he would,
without hesitation say, that he was not only aware of
the extent of distress prevailing in the country, but
that there was no man, not excepting his Hon. Col-
league (Mr. Coke), who was more ready to relieve it,
if he could but see his way to do so—(Hear, hear).
He had still one word to address to the Hon. Member
for Aberdeen (Mr. Hume). It was the practice of
that Hon. Member to be constantly taunting him (Mr.
Wodehouse) with inconsistencies in his Parliamentary
conduct. Now this was unfair, and in the main, un-
true. It was true, whatever might be the tenour of
his observations to-night, that he (Ms. Wodehouse)
had voteciagainst the reduction of the army, as well
when the 5,000 was proposed as the 10,000. But he
did this upon principle; and, in looking back to that
vote, he could not accuse himself of having acted
against his conscience upon that occasion. He was
still of opinion that the army had been reduced too
low. He also objected to the injustice done the troops
by sending them, after the most arduous services, to
sot in the Colonies, and observed th4t a Colonial Mi-
litia would be preferable. He would have the lion.
Member for Aberdeen, and those who acted with
him, to look to their own conduct, which was strongly
marked by inconsistency. This was perceivable in
the late debate upon the state of Ireland, when, as
soon as the disordered condition of cliat unfortunate
country was mentioned, Gentlemen, on the other side,
immediately called out for martial law—(Cries
of
No, no," from the Opposition). He contended that
this was most glaring inconsistency of conduct, for
these were the men now calling for an increased mi-
litary force, who had befui e voted for reducing the
army. They were now the first to propose a refer-
ence to
_military rigour. In conclusion, the I lon.
Member said, that it was with unwillingness he had
entered upon the statement he had just made, but'
that it bad been drawn from him by necessity.
Mr. DENISON said, that with no disposition to
take any part in this discussion, he felt himself called
upon to interpose his evidence between Lord King
and the gross attack which had been made upon him.
Ilaving risen, however, he would take the opportu-
nity of stating his entire concurrence, as well in the
.prayers of the Petition as in the observations of *the
Hon. Member who presented it to the House. With
_ that Hon. Member he fully agreed that taxation was
the cause of the evils under which the country la-
boured, -and theta diminution of it could alone give
substantial relief—(Hear). With regard to the allu-
sions made to a Noble Lord, he (Mr. Denison) could
take it upon himself to give all the facts . harged the
flattest contradiction—(Hear, hear). He was near
Lord King at the Surrey Meeting, and he knew that
the Noble Lord did not 'pass an unqualified panegyric
upon Mr. Cobbett. His words were, that "he had
now in his eye a public writer, to whom, whatever
Gentlemen might think of his opinion, the country
was greatly indebted for the clear manner in which
be delivered his sentiments, and that in his opinions
he was generally right"—(Hear). And it really was
• his (Mr. Denison s) own opinion, thdc whatever might
be said of Mr. Cobbett, his predictions in most in-
stances were verified; for was it not a fact that the
• country was now reduced to that state that it was im-
passible for the Noble Lord over the way to collect
the taxes under present circumstances and with the
present currency ?—(Hear).
Mr. BENNET said he also felt himself called upon
to speak in defence of the Noble Lord who had been
alluded to. Having been present at the Meeting,he
was thus enabled to speak from personal observation
• of the part which Lord King took upon that occa-
sion. It was true, the Noble Lord did eulogize Mr.
Cobbett; but, in so doing
.he was, in his (Mr. Ben-
net's) opinion, peifectly righi'; and he (Mr. Bennett)
would have done the same under similar circuns-