Star.
London, England, 1809-09-27 00:00:00

the use of a blessing, if it was not convened into an
abuse.

The Report was accordingly ordered to be read
paragraph by paragraph.
The first sentence being read,
Mr. WAITHMAN declared, though he had signed
the Report as a Member of the Committee, that he
thought himself entitled to object to it. One gentle-
man had said, that the Committee was not properly
constructed. Yet he would venture to assert, that
there were four out of five Members of that Commit-
tee, who would have voted for dining in a Common
Council. In such circumstances, he asked, was it
not strange that the Hon. Gentleman himself, who
had shewn such acrimony of disposition in that Court
should in the Committee have sat silent, and allowed
such a vote to pass unanimously ? the more particu-
larly when two gentlemen who did not agree with
him in political sentiments, but of whose uptight in-
tentions he had the sincerest belief, were of the Corn.
mittee. He was surprised that the Hon. Alderman
(Curtis) who was so loyal, had not come forward on
the present occasion, particularly as the day was of
his own appointment. He (Mr. Waithman) had on
the former day entered pretty fully into the leading
features of the present reign, and he had also conten-
ded, from the facts which he then exposed, that the
cry now raised was one to raise the flame of loyalty,'
and thereby to cover the dishonour, disgrace, and in-
famy, with which this country was at present, and
had in a variety of ways, dUring the course of the
present reign, been loaded. What he had stated on
that occasion, he gave without regard to popularity or
the contrary. If he could win popularity, he had no
objection to wear it ; but his determination had al-
ways been, to do his duty in that Court, without re-
gard to it. He flattered himself he had on that
night brought to their consideration important parti-
culars which had taken place in the course of the pre-
sent reign ; the pause which had occurred had given)
leisure to reflect on what he had stated ; had also en-
abled the Committee to judge how far the public
were for a general rejoicing, and had thus induced
them to keep within the limits which the projectors
of the motion had originally proposed to themselves.
As to the idea of going to church, to it he could have
no objection. To address his Majesty he also could
have no objection, if that was thought necessary to
establish the loyalty of the Corporation ; or if he could
figure what subjects of congratulation there were on
which to frame an Address. He had weighed the
subject in his mind since it was last before the Courts'
and he could not conceive how to form an address to
his Majesty without introducing falsehoods, or which
should not contain the exact contrary of congratula-
tion. He had shewn them on a former occasion, in
what the Contrast between the last and present reign
consisted. He had shewn that the present reign was
no period of congratulation. Was it to be a subject
of congratulation that the liberties of our subjects had
been preserved ? That this had been rendered a great
nation either at home or abroad ? It appeared to him
that the Court could not go and congratulate his
Majesty on this head. Were they then to congratu-
late their Sovereign on the most unprincipled of all
wars—the war with America—to which it may be
traly said all our calamities were to be attributed.—
Passing by all these, he should come to the last 16
years of the present reign, and would ask if it was
possible, without insulting his Majesty and his dis-
tressed people, to go and congratulate him on the pic-
tures which these years presented ? Could we congra-
tulate him on the suspension of the Habeas Corpus,
and on the various breaches which had been commit-
ted on our Constitution ?

s
Mr. DORNFORD contended that the Hon. Member
was not in order.
Mr. WAITHMAN continued. If he was not now in
order, according to the conception of the Honourable
Member, he trusted he should convince him to the
contrary before he was done. No Gentleman had
told them any subject of congratulation, unless indeed
it was that his Majesty's life had been protracted to a
late period. But was that a subject on which to con-
gratulate him ? For his own part, if he were now to
sit down, and frame such an Address, he should nor
know how to go about it. The Court had, in this
respect, to regret the absence of a Gentleman, whose
talent for poetry and fiction, left him never at a loss
on such an occasion. Were they, however, he again
asked, to congratulate his Majesty on the suspensions
of the Habeas Corpus Act, and OR the infringements
on the Constitution, arising from the Sedition and
Treason Bills, by which subjects of this country,
for the use of language of the same tendency, but
not so strong in itself, as that used by one of our
Ministers, had been expelled their native clime ?_
Could we congratulate his Majesty on the knowledge
that he did not labour under some bodily affliction ?
Could we congratulate him on the state of his family ?
or on the success of his arms ? On the last subject
all we know, as we had the authority of a late Secre-
tary at War for believing, was, that when our troops
or our navies were not at home they were abroad.—
This was all we knew or were entitled to know on
the subject. We had, indeed, the consolation latterly
of knowing that though a battle might have been
gained the war itself was lost. Surely, that, though
battles had been won by the bravery of our armies,
we had uniformly, in all our wars, been unsuccessful,
could not be a fit subjest of congratulation ! What
had our expeditions been but a scandalous waste of
blood and treasure ? If ever there was a time when
the public of this country, and particularly when the
Common Council of London were called on to go to
his Majesty and state our real situation, and to de-
mand an inquiry into the conduct of his advisers,
this was the period ! Yet the Court was now called
on, to do what ? To approach his Majesty with con-
gratulations ! What was this but a contrivance ?
They could not address his Majesty with congratula-
tions in the one hand and inquiry in the other. This,
however, was the sort of contrivance he had during
the whole of his political life to complain of. Could
they congratulate his Majesty on the Convention of
Cintra ? (Here Mr. S. Dixon, seemingly laughing in
derision, exclaimed, Lord of Mercy ! )—The Hon.
Gentleman exclaimed, Lord of Mercy—

" But duller must he be
Than the fat weed that wastes itself in ease
On Lethe's wharf--.."
if he could laugh at this. Thus, however, were all
that we had expected from the bravery of our armies,l
and from our own sacrifices, given away by the dash
of a pen. Were they to congratulate his Majesty on
the Answer returned- to their Address on this memo-

arable occasion ? Surely that they could not mean, if
they purposed to preserve any thing like consistency ;
if they did not wish to do away one of the acts which
most prominently displayed their resolution to assert
and maintain the character of Englishmen—lf an In-
quiry had then been granted, did they suppose the late
expeditions would have been undertaken ? Did they
suppose the march would have been made into the
interior of Spain ? But more particularly did they
Imagine that the last expedition, the most calamitous
that had ever been undertaken by this country, would
have been thought of ? Was there a man in the coun-
try who could mention any thing equal to it for dis-
grace and dishonour ? If the Court then thought the
Convention of Cintra a fit subject on which to address
his Majesty, with what feelings ought they to ap-
proach him after a business such as this ? The pre-
sent Address, however, was meant as an extinguisher
to every such inquiry. Was the Income Tax a sub-
ject of Inquiry ? That Court had gone up to remon-
strate against the imposition of the Excise. Was it
nothing to seize on the tenth of the income of every
man in the country ? It might happen, however, that
though our measures were unfortunate, they might
be wisely planned. Our Officers of the Staff consis-
ted of 300, being double in number the Staff em-
ployed by Bonaparte, yet we had seen, within these
two or three years, among the Officers selected to
command our armies, a Whitelocke, a Sir Hew Dal-
rymple—and, last of all, an Earl of Chatham ! Our
troops were brave, yet our undertakings were so
planned, and our armies so officered, that nothing
but disaster had occurred. We had an army in Spain
starving, while an enemy in the heart of a country
said to be allied to us, was pursuing them, in want of
nothing. Was there here, he asked, a single thing
for congratulation ? We had Ambassadors, main-
tained at the expence of £50,000 per annum, with
hardly a spot on which they durst set a foot ; but
where they were tolerated, there they were found ut-
terly unfit for their business—as in the cases of Ame-
rica, Turkey, &c. If there was a revolution, or any
thing else of consequence to be known, all heard of
it but the English Ambassador. No person could
escape from the grievous taxation imposed on the
people of this country ; yet what should be thought
of a Government which, though so vigilant in this
respect, could allow nine millions of accounts in the
Victualling Department, seven millions belonging to
the West Indies, &c. to be unexamined for years—
Which can shew the greatest alertness, in punishing
trifling non-payments of taxes, and yet is unequal to
the punishment ofenormous delinquencies ? Was there
to be no stop to the increase of our expenditure ? Could
the Country much longer stand it ? These were
questions which must be forced on the Court and on
the Country. He should like to see some of those
half-and-half men who had occasionally supported him,
come forward and try a question of this kind. He
had for many years been buffetted with the charges
of jacobinism and disloyalty, but he had withstood
them all. He had for years divided but with five of
six, but he had never been discouraged. He had still
stood, and should stand, for what he considered his
own and his country's legitimate rights.---`4m/auses
below the Bar.]
Mr. SAMUEL DIxoN spoke to order, remarking on
the indecorum of strangers breaking in upon the deli-
berations of so grave a body.
Mr. WAITHMAN was sorry he had said any thing
that should induce Gentlemen to forget themselves.
Where the feelings, however, were interested, such
acts of forgetfulness were excusable, and were often
with difficulty restrained in a far more deliberate as-
sembly than this could pretend to be. He begged
pardon for talking of himself ; he only wished to cau-
tion those who thought with him in some points, not
because they differed in some trifling shades, on that
account to fly into the arms of their enemies.—He
begged to recommend to them the beautiful advice of
Mr. Fox in his historical work—,, Let us ooncede
something to a friend, rather than every thing to an
enemy."—He particularly alluded to a Gentleman
who had been warm in the cause a few weeks since,
and now seemed turning to the other side. He beg-
ged of that Gentleman not to thirst so meanly of
himself as to suppose that his eloquence was forgot-
ten : the public would recollect and mark the change.
He must refer to an Honourable Baronet, though not
present (Curtis). That Worthy Baronet complained
of his personality ; but he forgot the personalities he
had practised towards him (Mr. Waithman) for
years. He could not forbear touching on such cha-
racters, particularly when they came forward with
professions of loyalty. He must shew the mean and
selfish motives by which they were governed ; and
that, be they Dutch Commisioners or whatever else,
it was necessary, in order to judge of their motives, to
kok what they were grasping at. He had been in-
duced within these few days to look into what was the
opinion of the late Earl of Chatham as to the Worthy
Baronet and such like. For his own part, the moni-
ed interest was always the last to which he would be
inclined to look for public principles. When he saw
the Directors of the Bank, in consequence of the re-
strictions on the issue of gold, charging five per cent.
for what was not worth a penny, and their stock in-
creased greatly in value within these few years, he
could not help seeing that there was a difference be-
tween them and the public in general, of which he
(Mr. Waithman) constituted a part. That they
were the receivers, the public the payers. As Lord
Chatham observed, there were a set of men living in
the city, with whom he wished to have little connec-
tion. The monied interest he abhorred. When in
office he never could look to the Treasury. It brought
men in alliance with the very worst persons in society,
whether they were the robbers in Change-alley or the
Asiatic plunderers in Leadenhall-street. These we
the blood-suckers and muckworms that fattened art d
public calamity ; and they embraced the whole race
of clothiers, jobbers, bank-directors, contractors, &c.
It did not matter to such men who was in office; they
were immediately ready to support any Administra-
tion. He (Mr. Waithman) had seen this exemplified.
He had seen the successor of Mr. Pitt, he had again
seen Mr. Pitt himself, afterwards he had seen Lord
Grey, and Lord Grey's successor, embraced at the
Mansion House with equal cordiality. He concluded
by moving an Amendment expressive of the feeling
of joy of the Court and of the Country on the fiftieth
anniversary of his Majesty's Accession to the Throne,
that, distingishing betn ten the beneficent views of the
Sovereign, and the profligate mismanagement of Mi-
nisters, they still are of opinion, that it could not be
gratifying to his Majesty, npr bpeficial to the coun-

try, that the day should be set apart as alday of public
rejoicirg.
After Mr. Waithman sat down, and the Amend.
men had been read, some personal altet'tations oc•
curred, in which Mr. Griffiths, Mr. Herne, Mr. S.
Dixon, and Mr. Kemble bore a part.
Mr. Alderman CHRINTOPHER SMITH declared his
conviction that the reign of his present Majesty would
suffer no deprecittion. from any contrast with that
part of our history to which the Worthy Commoner
(Mr. Waithman) had in his references given a pre.
ference. When the great Lord Chatham was the
Minister of this country, it was the theme of his pane.
gyric, that the trade aad commerce of France was
diminished. The diminution of that commerce he
(Mr. Alderman Smith) believed would at this mo-
ment be found to be much greater. It was then
stated that the ships of Prance were kept cooped up
in their ports. Where, he would ask, was the hat.
bour on the Continent from which they could now
eipect to escape without the almost moral certainty
of capture ? __ _ _ _

MAWMAN did not wish to find fault with any
report which any Committee of that Courtmight think
proper to present. In the present instance, however,
he was encouraged by the example of the Committee
themselves, many.of whom had signed their names,
and yet had afterwards retracted their agreement.—
As far as he could judge from such a report, he did
not think the day was sufficiently respected ; he had
thought it was to be celebrated by a feast, and was
surprised at finding this was not the case ; he did not
consider an Address on such an occasion sufficient ;
and he had a plan to propose, which he hoped would
meet the satisfaction of all parties. He wished to pro-
pose that the Lord Mayor should be requested to
lend the Corporation the Egyptian Hall, and that
they should dine together at their own individual ex-
pence. This, he calculated, would be at the rate of
about a guinea and a half per man, and could not its
the wkole amount to more than one thousand pounds.
Surely such a trifle as this could not be regarded by
such a Corporation as the City of London. Many
Members had objected to the celebration of a Jubi-
lee on account of the dejected state of the country,
but he would ask what cause there was for dejection ?
When were our roads, our inclosures, our agricu'.
ture, our navy, or our commerce in a more prosperous
condition ? In fact, they never were so flourishing.
The present King ought to be respected by all ranks
of his subjects; he had reigned for fifty years over'a
contented people, ruling them by the laws, and under
the guidance of our blessed Constitution.
Mr. Duos hoped the Court might continue full to
the conclusion of the debate. He hoped also, that
Members would attend more exactly to the question
in debate ; for in his opinion, many had deviated
widely from it. He had heard Members deny any
cause of congratulation on the present occasion ; but
for his part, he thought there was abundant.
Alderman GOODBEHERE thought the questions be-
tween the Government and the people ought to b 8
completely separated. The agriculture and its be.
nefits ought to be attributed solely to the people ; the
evils arising from a vilely conducted war entirely to
the Government. He would ask, was it for a double
national debt, a double income tax, a devastating
war, a loss of our American dominions, and all the
ruinous consequences of a mistaken policy, that we
were about to return thanks ?

Mr. Deputy KEMULE spoke in favour of the Report.
Mr. CLARKS thought the chief object of the Com-
mittee was to congratulate the Sovereign on his long
reign, and not at all to advert to the measures of Ad-
ministration—as a Member of the Committee, this
was his opinion.

Mr.Wa- ITHmsx justified his conduct in not oppos-
ing in the Committee those principles which he now
condemned ; he saw how vain such an opposition
would prove in a Committee so constituted.
Mr. GRIFFITHS defended the Committee.
The first and second Resolutions were then put and
carried.

On the third Resolution, concerning the illumi-
nation, being proposed,
Mr. KEMBLIC said, he hoped only the public head-
ings should be illuminated, as the lighting up of pri-
vate houses might cause much disturbance.
Mr. MILLER said, the whole question concerning
the illumination, reminded him of an old pantomime
called Narlequin Touchstone : Harlequin, by virtue of
his touchstone, could maker any person whom he
chose tell the truth : coming one night to Paris in a
rejoicing, he asked a Parisian what the illumination
was for.. The Parisian was just about to equivocate,
wht n Harlequin applied his touchstone ; and he was
told the illumination was intended to keep the people
in the dark.---(4 laugh, and lewd applause.)
On the 4th resolution, as to the dinner, being put,
' Mr. MAwstew moved an amendment, proposing a
' dinner.

Mr. MAnßiror fully agreed in the amendment, and
said, that on the recovery of the King, in 1789, the
Common Council went to Church, and, still better,
dined together afterwards—it would be dreadful to
go with an empty stomach into a cursed cold Church.
(A general laugh.)
Mr. DIXON said, he looked into a Dictionary for
the meaning of the word « Jubilee," and found it
meant an hearty and solemn feast. (A laugh.)
Sir J•KN EAMER desired to hear if there ever was
a precedent of the Corporation's dining at their indi-
vidual
expen. ce ?

The Clerk knew of no sich precedent.
Mr. MAWMAN s t;d, as that was the case, he was
content to dine at the expence of the Corporatiun.—
(4 laugh.)
After a few words from Mr. VANDERCOME, we un-
derstand the amended Resolution for a dinner was
giarried by a majority of 25.
The Court then divided on a motion that the ex-
pence of the dinner should be defrayed by the Mem-
bers individually.—The numbers were--
Ayes 42—Noes 47—Majority against each Member
paying his own expences 5.

Cox tr•Exc RANI:It, St PT. 27.—T0-day there are some few ar.
rivals of Wheat, but the supply in general very short. Sales is
t.l; trade at little variation—Barley this week full ,Is. per quarter
dearer—Malt and White Peas are each rathtr higher—Brans of
th.e two kin 'a ully at last prices-. !'here are likewise short suppl:eis
of Oats, and this article is quoted rather dearer.—"l'he prices of
Flour at our last quotation, and fine American also. •

ORNIRAL QURRENCT AS UND[R:
Wheat, 945. ICS. Beaus, tB. 695.
En* clittc, 118 s. tf9 . Tick ditto, .4r. f9s.
Rye, 555. eo . Oats, 5,15. 35,-. Sas.
Pine flour, 951. to 109. Seconds, 90s. 95g.