Star.
London, England, 1830-02-18 00:00:00

BIRMINGHAM POLITICAL UNION.

If we hailed the formation of the Birmingham Union
with sentiments of unequivocal approbation, our satisfac-
tion was greatly increased yesterday, on receiving an
" AUTHORISED COPY" of the resolutions, rules, and
regulations, of this truly national association. Believing
as we do that the example set by Birmingham will lead
to the restoration of English liberty, every line of the
pamphlet shall appear in the columns of the STAR. We
trust those of our contemporaries, who have any re-
gard for the interests of their country, and are not
bought over by power, will do the same. The people
would thus be enabled to know and appreciate the vast
importance of such a union in the present perilous state
of things, as well as the absolute necessity of establishing
similar associations throughout the empire. With the
strongest recommendation that this course may be
. __

adopted, we proceed to make our first extract, and shall
continue till the whole pamphlet is laid before our
readers.
RESOLUTIONS.
At a most numerous and respectable Meeting of the Merchants,
Manufactures, Tradesmen Mechanics, Artisans, and other Inha-
bitants of the Town of Birmingham, held at Mr. Beardsworth's
Repository, on Monday morning, the 25th of January, 1830, the
following Resolutions were entered into :

GEORGE FREDERICK AIUNTE, ESQ. IN THE CHAIR.
Resolved tosaninsously,
1. That the ruinous depression of the trade of the town of Bk.
mingham has been progressively increasing for the last four years,
and has now arrived at an extent never before equalled ; and when
we look around us, and see that all the great productive interests of
the nation are suffering, and have been suffering equally with our-
selves, we are convinced that the hopes of amelioration, which have
been so long and so frequently held out, are altogether fallacious and
delusive.

Resolved, by at least a majority of 1000 to 1.
2. That, In the opinion of this meeting, the general distress
which now afflicts the country, and which has been so severely
felt at different periods during the last fifteen years, is entirely
to be ascribed to the gross mismanagement of public affairs;
and that such mismanagement can only be effectually and perma-
nently remedied by an effectual reform in the Commons' House of
Parliament; and tnis meeting is also of opinion that for the legal
accomplishment of this great object, and for the further redress of
public wrongs and grievances, it is expedient to form a general Po-
litical Union between the lower and middle classes of the people in
this town.

The plan of a Political Union between the lower and middle
classes of the people in thie town, for the protection of Public Rights,
with a Political Council attached to it, having been read to this
meeting, and the same having been duly considered :
Resolved, with one dissentient only,
3. That it be approved, adopted, ratified, and confirmed as the
act of the town of Birmingham.
Resolved, unanimously,
4. That the 36 gentlemen who have brought forward the plan,
and whose names are affixed to it, be appointed the Political Coun-
cil, for the year ending the let Monday in July, 1830, and that after
that the Council shall be elected by the members of the Union,
agreeably to the rules and regulations.
L That Mr. William Shorthouse, Mr. William Martin, and
Mr. William Bedington, be apppointed Auditors of the Political
Union

6. That Mr. Richard Rotton be appointed Treasurer.
7. That this meeting pledges itself, collectively and individually,
to support the objects of the Political Union by every just, legal,
and peaceful means.
8. That we recommend to all our fellow townsmen to subsaibe
to the funds of the Political Union, so fu as they can conveniently
afford, and to obey all the just and legal directions of the Council,
so far as they can be legally and conveniently obeyed.
9. That this meeting cannot separate without declaring its opi-
nion that the conduct of the High Bailiff, in rejecting the requisi.
tion of so respectable a body of his fellow townsmen, was highly un-
becoming and censurable, inasmuch as he ought to have considered
that it was his duty to comply with the wishes of 200 individuals,
equally capable of exercising a sound judgment as himself.
10. That the petition now read to this meeting be adopted as the
petition of the inhabitants of Birmingham, subject to such alters.
Lions as the Political Council may direct.
11. That the cordial thanks of this meeting be given to Mr.
Buzdaworth, for his generous and public-spirited conduct in allowing
them the um of his warm and comfortable Dermitory.
G. F. MUNTZ, Chairman.
Mr. Blunt: having left the Chair, and Mr. Attwood having been
called to it, _ _

Resolved ay acclamation,
That the thanks of this meeting be given to the Chairman, for the
able and impartial manner in which he has conducted the business
of the day. THOMAS ATTWOOD.

The experience of the last 15 years, must certainly have con.
vinced the moat incredulous that the rights and interests of the
middle and lower classes of the people are not efficiently represented
in the Commons House of Parliament. A very few observations
will be sufficient to place this important subject beyond the possibi-
lity of doubt.
In the year 1819, a bill was passed into a law, under the assunip.
Lion that it would add only four per cent. to the national taxes
and burthens. It is now very generally acknowledged that
the bill thus passed into a law, has literally added cent. per
cent. to the national burthens; instead of four per rent. that it
has literally doubled, or is in the undeniable process of doubling, the
real weight, and the real value of every tax, rent, and monied obliga-
tion in the kingdom. Ten years have since elapsed ; and yet, to this
day, no adequate effort has been made by the representatives of the
people, to reduce the taxes in a degree corresponding with the in.
crease which has thus been surreptitiously effected in their weight
and pressure ? What further proof is required of the absolute ne.
cesaity of reform ?
Nor hag any attempt been made by the legislature to retrace their
steps, and to rectify the grievous oppression which has thus been oc-
casioned. On the contrary, the fatal error is now coolly acknow.
lcdgtd, and the country is gravely assured, by the very men who
benefit by the measure, thatilt is now too late to retreat! !
At three different periods' during the operation of this fatal mea.
sure, and now a fourth time, the industrious classes of the community
generally, have been reduced to a state of distress which has hereto.
fore been unexampled in its general extent and severity. At each of
these periods, the profits of productive capital and indastry have been
destroyed, or so much reduced, as no longer to afford the just and
necessary inducements to the employment of labour. The_ work-
ing classes of the coantry have thus been thrown generally
out of employment, or they have been compelled to endure more la-
bour than nature can support, or their fair and reasonable earnings
have been sacrificed, in order to prevent the ruin of their employers.
Strange and unnatural as this state of things evidently is, it has,
more than once, been attended with anomalies which have rendered
it ten times more unnatural still. The markets have been glutted
with food and clothing on the one hand, and with a hungry and
naked population on the other. The most eminent parliamentary
authorities have declared that the loaves have been too many for the
mouths, and that the mouths have been too many for the loaves at
the very same time !
It is most certain, that if the rights and interests of the industri-
ous chases of the community had been properly represented in Par-
liament, a general state of distress, encoded with anomalies like
these, would have commanded the instant attention of the House of
Commons. Thr cause of the distress would have been ascertained,
and the proper remedy would have been applied without delay.—
But, what has been the conduct of the House of Commons ?
To this very day, the emus of these strange and unnatural, and
distressful anomalies has never once been enquired into 1 At
three different periods, when this vital subject has been brought
before the House of Commons, they hare literally refused to
allow its investigation! In the year 1822, Mr. Western gsve no-
tice of a motion to inquire into the cause of the notional distress.
The House of Commons refused to grant the inquiry In 1828
Mr. Edward Davenport !gave notice of a similar motion ! The
House refused to grant IM inquiry ! In the last year Sir Richard
Vyvyan gave notice of a similar motion ; and again the House of
Commons rejUsed to grant the inquiry! Upon three different
occasions, the House of Commons has thus exposed itself to the
suspicion of either a total unwillingness, or a,total inability to pro.
tees the most vital interests of the country.
Here, then, we have proqf that the rights and interests of the
great mass of the community are not properly represented in Par-
liament. A triple proof has been added to every argument which
has previously been drawn from reason and experience, that an ef-
fectual representation of the industrious classes in the Commons
House of Parliament is alike necessary to the welfare of the people,
and the safety of the throne.
Nor is this state of things much to be wondered et, 'then the
present state and composition of the Commons House of Parliament
are considered. That honourable House, in its present state, is
evidently too far removed In habits, wealth, and station, from the
wants and interests of the lower and middle chases of the people, to
have any just views respecting them, or any close identity of feeling
with them. The great aristocratical interests of all kinds are well
represented there. The landed interest, the church, the law, the
monied interest,—all these have engrossed, as it were, the House
of Commons into their own hands, the members either Hoc. Reuse
being all immediately and closely conneeted with ikon peat In.
terests. But the tolerate ("industry avid ef trade have randy


any representatives at alt ! These, the most vital interests of the
nation, the sources of all its wealth and of all its strength, are cons.
paratively unrepresesusd ; whilst every interest connected in any
way with the national bwrthens is represented in the fullest de-
gree ! If any:few individual members of the House of Commons
should happen to be concerned in trade, it may be truly said that
such memWrss are in general far more concerned in interests hostile
to trade, than In trade itself. They are, too often, rich and retired
capitalists, who have, perhaps, left one tenth of their wealth in
trade, and have withdrawn the other wine tenths from active occu-
pation. It Is, therefore, of but little consequence to them whether
trade flourishes or not. It is possible, indeed, that upon some oars-
dons, these rich and retired capitalists may look with Indifference on
the sufferings of their competitors in trade; and after having availed
'themselves of the facilities of credit, to accumulate their
own fortunes, they may possibly contemplate without pain the
removal of those facilities from others, and their hopeless and un.
availing struggles to follow in the same career
Undoubtedly, it is essential to the national welfare that this state
of things should be changed. The "Citizens and Burgesses" of
the House of Commons should, in general, be real "Citizens and
Burgesses ;" men engaged in trade, and actively concerned in it ;
and having their fortunes and their prospects in life committed In
it. The present members of the House of Commons, although
called "Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses," are practically all
" Knights of the Shire ;" Inasmuch as they are generally possessed
of the same fortunes, and living under the same habits, influencies,
and impressions as " Knights of the Shire." It is not, therefore,
to be wondered at that the members of the House of Commons
should exhibit, generally, a total ignorance of trade, and of the
wants and interests of the industrious classes of the community ;
and too frequently an indisposition to enquire into the distresses of
trade, or to give themselves any great trouble in relieving them.
It is idle to blame this kind of conduct in them. It is in the na-
ture of man to look principally to his own interest. Bis the public
themselves who are to blame Jor having allowed a state of things to
grow up, in which the public interests are frequently entrusted
into inefficient hands. If the public had kepta proper guard over their
own concerns—if they had sent to Parliament real " Citizens and
Burgesses," selected from among themselves, and having the same in-
terests as themselves, acquainted with the same wants, and modes,
and means, and living under the same habits, influences, and im-
pressions as themselves ; then the rights and interests of the indus.
trious classes would have been properly guarded and secured. This
was the practice in the better days of the constitution ; and unless it
become the practice again, there can be no prosperity, no liberty, no
security, for this injured and degraded nation.

LONDON INSTITUTION.