Star.
London, England, 1802-04-13 00:00:00

THE ATE MINISTERS.

Sir Fitswcis Mose Ty—o Sir, the time hal at
length arrived, when laying afide conjedure and
nacertainty, we arc enabled to form an etimatc if
1 the profetlions, principles, and concha of tiicSe
men who have for many years pall exercifed the
Powers of Government in this country. New, I
prefume, we may be permitted to make up the
National Account of Blood and Treafiire, and
thew the coulitry what has been received in vett:: n
her the dreadful expenditure of both. it is now
my duty to take a retrol;sea of the condua of his
Majefly's Miniflers in the various and raWrg
objeas they have from time to tinme pretended
for engaging the country in the late war, and t:r
continuing the contell after they had begun it ;
but above all, it is my duty to fix the attention of
the I loide on the many and ntifchievous altera-
tions which, by their fuggetlions and intliknce,
bare brcn made in the laws ;—their aggetnions
agaitill the free Contlitution of the Country, and
their palpable and open war again( the rigirts,
property, peace, and domellie rec twit y of the peo-
ple. In taking the retrofpea which I propofe, the
orioin,, of the war, a fubjea In frequently difetor,:d, ,
will naturally prefent itfelf to inquiry, and a!- !
though it has been decided by Miniiters, and their 1
notorinufly corrupt adherents, that the war was a
jull ml 4 necetfary war, let me now appeal from a
decifion, obtained by corruption, to the feber
judgment of the Houfe. Now that the whole fib.
jet is before us, and the fallehoods, the fraud', and
the artifices of Miniflers made mattifeit to the whole
world—now that their fallacious and arrogant
alfertions have been uniformly contra‘hacd—now
that by their counfels the country has been brought
into the perilous fituation in which it tlands, fine-
ly I thall not be told there are not pat pounds of
enquiry into the deceptions praftifed by there labs:
prophets and tricking impoffors. If Mini flers have
deluded burner Parliaments, and obtained their
rupport in con fequence of their holding out ground-
leis hopes of the attainment of pretended objeas,
fiirely it is important we Should enquire whether
if any fuch objeas had exiftence they .have not
been yielded up by the Peace ? We than find, that
under WIC and ftrange pretences, the fundamen-
tal laws of the land have been altered ; every bul-
wark of the Conflitution removed ; every thing
taken away except corruption and abufe : we fhall
find that while the people have had additional
burthens heaped upon them by corruption, every
thing has been done which was calculated to ren-
der their former burthens more grievous and more
difficult to be endured: we (hall find that there is
no fituation with regard to any part of the peopie
of the country, from the Monarch on his Throne
to the private Citizen, that has not been materi-
ally altered by his Majefty's late Minifters. The
fituation of the King, the Queen, the Prince of
Wales, both Houfes of Parliament, the Jthiges, the
law, the military, the Bank of England, the City
of London, the Tall Indies, tl.c Weft Indies,
Scotland, Ireland, of the people a- large, has been
altered under the pretence of refitting innovat 1
and change. To effea this change was the
real objea of the war—a war not nireacd agaitilt
enemies abroad, but againa the liberty, the pro:ler-
ty, manners, laws, cultorns, and habits of die p.:O-
- at home. I maintain that it was againft the
very exiltence of the rights of the people h:s Ma-
jetty's late Minifters cOnipired to have the war.—
This is notorious to the whole world, and I with to
lix upon them the calamities of a war for which
they alone are refpontible, and in which they have
gained no viaory to boat except over the people
of this country, who unfortunately confided in
them. In this refpea their fuccefs has been corn.
plat: indeed. The liberty of the prefs is dcttroycd.
Printers and publifhers are at the mercy of Go-
verntnent ; and he muff be a bold man who A 1 ill
dare to put pen to paper to exprels his feutiments
at a pet iod when a fecund conviaion for a con.
ltruaive libel may lenience him to tranfportatiOn
to Botany Bay—at a period when a libel is a
thing which cannot be defined—a fcare-crow in a
garden may be called a libel—the geflures of a
deaf and dumb man may be coldidered libellous;
and We find the I:darks of Judges who eneniir;•.gr.:
fuch conarnaion augmented ; we fee Star Cham-
ber fentences pronounced ; perfons con viaed re-
maining with their fentences pending over their
head ;CriminalCourts adopting theunconflitutional
habit of remanding perfons to be brought up at a
diaant day ; Attorney Generals threatening juries
with writs of attaint ; above fifty perfons prevent-
ed helm meeting under the penalty of death ;
Trial by Jury taken away in alrooft all cafes
where the revenue is concerned; an Income tax
ereaeckon a principle of inquiatorial power—the
molt private concerns forced to be revealed—
Englithmen fummoned like culprits before Infpec.
tors till they think proper to be fatisfied with the
return they make of- their property—honourable
tradefmen put to their oath, difbelieved, and held
out to their fellow fubjeas as perjured, without
the poffibility of obtaining any redrefs from their
country; and what
_particularly deferves to be
remarked is, that juft prior to this unprincipled
fcheme of plunder the law of perjury was altered,
and the punilhment of tranfportation annexed to
it. The repeal of Web a tax as the Income Tax
is not enough; it .ought to be ftigmatized. We
find too landed property confileated to a large
amount, under the leveling pretence of a file of the

Lri.l Tax : What, I would afk, does a man
lain by cite l`t:re'ttafe
.of t is, but the probah:ht%
;4,r„ ;Icy: tax rnpored upon him ? A n.:t;s
miv C.lllloly advance
lateen, fev-nteen, or
s,•w.•si taxes at once, by the payment Qt
~,js,ost a loi's funt than the amount ol each; hat
•
IlLe•chliks tip ft) rohLed, cheated, and pluisdcr-
c,i, lie mill only have other taxes in the loom of
has tedeemed ; ,tom may again red-ern
tax,..!„ and I.y the continmlnce of loch
scheme of !situ,! a (..'eatleman of landed proper.
ts• ns.ry bs a l'ew years find hirnie!f in I`c.if,jr.,3
,Cl. nothing mote than Iti, title We fit..{
the v.11,•1e relating to the callody 01 pi.
1,41:::.s, about which the law was anci:ntly fo jea-
b,s;‘,ll.is beets entirely altered; all pr,adtion has
been withdrawn from the objeds of Miniacria
veng••;4l:ce, an. the pradice of fecret imprifon.
meta, cli confinement, the changing the coftody
I.:on) one prifon to another, and the famz fyttern
of cruelty and oppreftion introduced which was 10
jtifily c,,mplained of under the Stuarts. The laws
of high trcafon have been altered ; the provitiors
is the ilatnte of Edward 111. were ton plain far
,nojetn Millers : No, they mull be bunglir.3
Traitors i td.ed who cannot elude them : they
mutt have Raines introducing cGrntrudive trca.
lons : ev,..:1 meeting- for the purpofe of pro.
nccting Parliamentary Reform may be conitrued
into au ad of high treafon. Sir, it was one of
the exiles of pail,: execration with regard to one
of the Roman Emperors thit his laws were placed
lo high, and w itten fo fmall that no one cooll
read them. S ca an objedion, I admit, does not
apply to the laws of his Majelly's late Minitler•—
they are written it charaders large enough, and
placed where every one may read them, but mt.
happily there are few who under(Ltiid them. The
eft:ea of the ()Rem purfbed by the late Miniller:
has been that of undermining the mArality, anl
corrupting. the integrity of the country—they
have ttiumplied over the ancient manners which
chataderifed Englitlimen—they have deltroyed all
fcnle and patrintifm in public men. The fame
man who is loud to-day in his profeffions of pa.
iotic virtue, and who ttands forth the champion
of the 103c:ties of the people, and the promoter
of Parliarnemary Ref am, will to morrow make
no fdruple in recanting his fentiments, and perfe-
cuting thole who have adopted them : his profef.
firms to his country are difregarded, and the only
apology he thinks it at all.nrceffary to make is,
that he is gros,•n %viler than when 11,; expreffed the
opinion lie finds ,t convenient to abandon. MI-
Maers are not contented with having taken away
our old laws, and introduced new.ones, but they
have even tranigi eff:d thole they have introduced ;
they have, to nil their own expreffion, acted with
a vigoor beyond the law. They have new mo-
delled Places and Offices; created a third Secre-
tary of State—a Ration unknown to the Conftitu-
tion—they have felefted needy creatures, depen•
dent upon themfelves, and have invefted theni
with the facred charade:. of Magiftrates. They
have eretked fecret and murderous dungeons, under
the controul of thofe corrupt Magiltiates. They
have fent the money of the People out of the
Country, and have brought over foreign merce-
naries, thinking them fitter inftruments of tyranny
than our own fOleliers. They have year after year
Ihrpended the Habeas Corpus Aa ; arrefted
indif-
criminately Inch perfons—not whom they had
proof againft, hut againft whom they expefted
they might be able to extort evidence. Knowing
what they did, they could not hut 'know. that all
men aura be againft them, and therefore they fur-
peded every one ; fume were laid in irons, others
were taken to bottles of confinement, where they
weere. terrified with the reprefentations made to
them of the horrors of Cold-bath-fields, and the
cruelties of Governor Aris, and urged to accufe
their fellow fill,jeas as the only means of eleapinse,
theinfelves. Molt of thole men having no inform.
:akin to give, and not choofing to fave themfelves
by falfe accufations ngainft others, were thruk
into fOlitary cells, where• they experienced every
species of cruelty—where they were expiated to
evety act of perfonal indignity, and deprived of
every confolation whatever—fecluded from their
wives and ciiihken, without having the fmallett
idea of the charge preferred againft them, or en-
tertaining a hope of being brought to the bar of
their country, where they might have had an op-
portunity of' proving their innocence. At
With health dellroyed, and broken hearts, after
three, four, and eVen feven years confinement,
have thefe unfortunate vidims been permitted to
return to their ltarving and unproteded families.
The Houle has been prevailed on to reject the Pe.
titions of there men, aid to pals Bills ef- Indemni-
ty in favour of their oppreffors, without calling
upon them for the !exit explanation. Parliament -
has pa (Fed Bills of Indemnity, which I maintain
hold tip the. Conftittition of the Country to fcnrn
and Contempt., and make the rcfponfibility of Zs. •
Miters a mete nothing. We find the prefent Mi-
niaers battening with a degree of anxiety to throw
the fitield of proteelion over their preelecelfors ; Is
it that they 'apprehend the day may arrive when
they will have orcation to require their fuccelfors
to do as much for them ?—I fear Ili, Majetty's Mi.
Litters will go onaill they bring thernielves, and -
Parliament for fupporting them, into Inch abhor-
rence, that the People of England, like the Peo-
ple of Ireland, will be glad to get rid of than
and us too. It would have been fullicient forcly
to have fecured them egainit die legal damages
which might be awarded for the acts they have
done, and to let the law take its coolie ; but,: it
was not fo much the dread of paying damages, as
to prevent the tales of difireis being told, that
jultice was refund. It was therefore acceffary to
reject the petitions of the objeds of Mir: aerial per.
fee ution—to thin the gallei ies of the-t-lonfe of Com-
mops, and to bar up the entrance to the Come, of
J office, that no well authenticated account of :!:.air
proceedings might go forth to the public. Lc tno
man fit ppote his life rs fafe under inch a lyftern, and
when corruption has obtained filch a height thioNli-
nifters may commit what aEls they pleafe with im-
punity, and when the Floufe of Commons, whi, Is
ought to be the guardian and protedor of the Peo.
plc and the Laws, can be prevailed upon to p o's
Bills of Indemnity for oppreffing the one aad