Star.
London, England, 1829-10-27 00:00:00

CHESHIRE WHIG CLUB.

The following is the Letter addressed by EDWARD
DAVIES DAVENPORT, Esq. M. P. for the County of

Cheater, to the Chairman of the late Whig Dinner in

that city, Mr. TOLLET :-
4' Sia,—An indisposition which confines me to the house, wil
prevent my attending the Club at Chester on Friday. I regret
this the more, as I am very far indeed from participating in that

apathy in politics which stems to have been latterly observable
in public men, and forms, I think, one of the worst signs of the
times ; for its obvious tendency is to allow Governments to act

as they please, whilst it teaches the suffering people that they
have nothing left but themselves to depend upon. For some
years past the country hu been labouring under difficulties with
which nothing but a vigorous Opposition, or a Minister who
preferred the public welfare to his place, could grapple. Yet
during the first year of the present Parliament all effort was
suspended, every tongue was tied, by the mere promise of a
Finance Committee. This promise atone procured the Govern-

went a complete quietus for about IS months, during which

- -
time, if any good measure was proposed, the invariable answer
was, ', Wait and see what the Finance Committee will do."
In the year following this famous Committee sat, and, of course,
these waiters could hardly be ezpected to do any thing till its
labours were concluded and reported, both of which were done
with great diligence and promptitude. Yet in the last Session this

famous bugbear, which had kept us all in check for above two
years, was as much forgotten as if it had never existed, scarcely
any allusion having been made teat. Not a syllable could meet
with attention this year that did not relate to the Catholic
Bill ; and, although it passed before Easter, the same indiffe-
rence to every thing else was manifest after as before. The fa-
vourers of that measure seem most of them to think there is
no rational limit to their joy, and the gratitude due to the
two men who have been the reluctant instruments in effecting
this act of tzrdy justice ; and that these feelings warrant their
granting a plenary indulgence, in the good old form, for all
future as well as past misgovernment. Now the plain truth
seems to be that the Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel had,
according to their own showing. no honest alternative. They
told us plainly that they could not govern the country, without
the risk of a civil war, against a majority of the House of
Commons on this question, and the Irish told us plainly
that they would no longer submit to oppression. I therefore
consider our obligations to these gentlemen as partaking muck
of the nature of those we owe to any other public servants
who are so obliging as to live very well, and take the best possible
care of their bodily health and posthumous reputation ; and that they
form no excuse whatever for neglecting the interests of our constitu-
ents in many other equally important respects ; for the Catholic Bill
has not found food for the starving multitude. For my own part, I
know not of what use it is to study politics unless it be to promote the
w.-ifare of our fellow-crest urea; and for men, whether in or out of
Parliament, calling themselves politicians to think themselves jesti-
fied in sitting still, boasting of past triumphs, or crowing over fallen
foes, when Rome is on fire in a dozen quarters,instead of contributing
energetically whatever lights or knowledge they possess, or such
sentiments as their good feeling may dictate, is, I think, not the
way to evince either the purity of their faith or the efficacy of
their works. The Catholic Bill has undoubtedly done a good deal
for Protestants as well as Catholics; it has shown the country that
it was in the power of two individuals, in a few short months, to
tutu a majority of 45 Lords avian a long-agitated question, into
a majority of 145 in tansy of that identical question, and that
by the saute machinery a majority of six was turned into (I
think) ISO in the House of Commons. It has thus shown the
utter incompetency of Parliament to achieve of itself any great
work whatever, and it has also shown its indisposition to attend
to more than one great measure in any one Session. Whenever
the long-contested boon is conceded, we lapse into a sort of
foul's paradise of fulsome panegyric and gratulation, accom-
panied by a total oblivion of all other duties, however Import-
ant. And yet I apprehend there never was a time when nue
aurrce, and aunt, and Damn were so widely spread in Eng-
land as now. Read the reports from all the great towns in the
empire, some of which describe whole districts subsisting upon
earnings not exceeding fifteen-pence a week. And why are then
abominations suffered to endure for a moment? To enrich the
loanmonger, the placeman, the pensioner, and the capitalist, to
whom, no doubt, allusion is nude when we hear of the " gene-
ral and permanent interests of the country ?" The truth the
taxes have been doubled by changing the money laws, or, if you
please, by taking the money which paid labour out of our pocket,
and as the additional and surreptitiously imposed load is, in a
great measure, hove off the shoulders of those who imposed it,
and falls mainly upon the labouring population, little is said about
it, or it passes indeedesi ; owing partly to the self-Interest,
and partly to the ignorance, of the audience. I have for many
years past been perfectly convinced of the state of things to which
the measures of Government were tending ; and now that this
state is manifest to all, and admitted even by those who before
affected to deny it, the public, in spite of the efforts hitherto suc-
cessfully employed to keep them in ignorance of the cause, will
soon know the truth ; and then, and not till then, may a remedy to
their unparalleled wrongs and sufferings be expected.--I have the
honour to be. with sincere wishes for the prosperity of the club,
and great regret that I cannot attend it, your obedient humble
servant, (Signed)
" Calvelre, Oct. 7. EDWARD D. DAVENPORT."

Two thousand five hundred infantry and cavalry have
left Brest within a few days for Martinique and Guade-
loupe ; they are going to relieve the garrisons of those
islands.
The Sir Edward Banks, Hambro' steamer, has arrived,
by which the Hambro' Reporter of the 23d instant has
been received at the North and South American Coffee-
house as well as the Corresponds
nten of the 24th of
October from the Hombre' Reporter.