Star.
London, England, 1819-10-23 00:00:00

EXETER, OCTOBER 18.

vire further proof. Would to Gou
never been ! Having, however, been
.es in this business, they world endea-
themelves to the best of their humble
ought not to be diveyted or dis-
lly aspersions which might be cast
might be said, that they were with-
perry, or talent. As for' worth, it was
is if they did not possess it; but where
for virtue and true patriotism, if not
the Reformers? As to property, in
when every shilling was ground
At part, few indeed had sufficient to
tuts of life, and many were literally
unger. Was this caused by the Re-
! bet by those who needed to be re-
lo talent, let the deficiency of that be
a steady, persevering, zeal, by which
ruin a Radical Reform in the People's
liament, erroneously called the House
If that had existed, they would not
leplore the bloody scenes of Petersfield,
:ers to have signified their haughty ap-
the deed. A radical change in the
immons was the only relief to which they
the only thing which could release them
-ensure under which they laboured—the
'hich could replace them in the once-
Instances of Englishmen; and this was
ktained by Annnal Parliaments, lini-
ige, and Vote by Ballot. After some
•rations, he concluded by expressing a
wish for the prosperity of that cause
not lead them to invade the rights of
llow them to suffer the invasion of their
len moved a series of Resolutions, simi-
to those which have been passed at other

:m Meetings.
,KSR seconded the Resolutions in a speech
)1e length, to which our limits will not
give insertion. The drift of his argu-
shew that every Government which did
security to property and personal safety,
the greatest ends for which Governments
►ted, was worse than.useless.
ILEA was received with loud cheers, and
to following effect :—Before they pro-
tss or object to the Resolutions which had
) them, and assent to or oppose the semi-
speeches which they bad beard, he would
allow him—a fellow-conntrycnan, though
townsman, to offer a few observations
iportant occasion. He had, indeed, been
iot being a resident of Hull, he had no
(dress an assembly of the inhabitants of
but he was (Luke sure they would deter-
it was the right of an Englishman to ap-
:vet- there was an English interest to de-
:se were not times when they should say—
lo business to do this ; you have no business
it was the right and duty of all when
to be ready to defend the commbn cause.
now assembled to express their abhorrence
Inchoter Massacre, because if the spirit that
it were not checked, the Yeomanry who
;e1 the Manchester People yesterday would
tens to-morrow—though he was quite sure,
'y ventured on a second charge, they would
a very different reception. It was high
that the People should take their affairs
• own bands ; and having been misled by
to told them that killing was right, they
lideavcair to lead themselves. Above all,
)uld be mindful to trust no leader who told
be silent when their rights were invaded.
-ere occasions, and this was one of them, in
Nva,. impossible for honest men to act wrong.
Mr. Wooler was interrupted by the corn-
lent of a very heavy shower of rain, which
tarry of his audience away, but he soon re-
-I—The political storm which they had all to
ter, was much more important than those
inva.tions of the elements ; and he trusted
01:..1 resist the one with as much firmness as
11 the other in indigerence. The cause was
ich they had no time to deliberate upon, but
ult the honest dictates of their hearts. They
took to the Manchester affair as only one part
noad and extended system. They were all
;cc,l of the nature of the situation in which
;red, and they must exert themselves. They
to be constitutional and peaceable : they
Lc constitutional, and peaceable too, while
ere permitted to be so. Their ancestors found,
1 doing themselves justice when they were,
he trusted that they would imitate them)l
:ir v.: muss and in their success. They had now
', lat this time of day few of them did nut
tint if they would be free, they must free'
".I':e.; if they would be secure they must se-
li.ent elves; and if they would secure their pro-
ti:cy must say to tax-gatherers, and their mas-
tar shall you go, and no farther."
'-'1( Chairman now put the Resolutions and Ad-
which were carried with three cheers, and the
•;i prematurely dissolved, in the midst of
of :Ain.

• i,;acard, signed" A. 7 histlewood, Seavtary:'
s appearance this morning, announcing
Nletting" to take place on the Ist of No.
\Ve hope that it will be impossible to find,
'"^n, a sufficient number of fools to coassitute
4 1ett.11143.

The Exeter Quarter Sessions commenced to-day
at the Guildhall, before the Recorder, Wm. Cott's-
TBIAT, Esq. who, in his address to the Grand Jury,
'after noticing the state of the Calendar, proceeded
as follows:

" Never, Gentlemen, have I had occasion to ad-
dress you under circumstances which furnished so
much matter for serious consideration as those of the
present day; doctrines are fearlessly and openly main-
tained, which in their necessary result must leact7to
the destruction of every principle that can be relied
epon to give security or happiness to individuals, or
to maintain the peace and tranquillity of the country.
I have said, openly maintained. This, indeed, is a
peculiar feature of the present times. It was re-
served to the Reformers of this day to strike avowedly
at the root of that religion, upon the maintenance of
which we have hitherto believed that the welfare of
mankind in a great measure depends, and to counsel,
in direct and unequivocal terms, the destruction by
force of those institutions which the labours of our
free-born and enlightened ancestors, in the brightest
period of our history, have contributed to -form.
Those who have had occasion to see the publications
which have issued froni the Press within the last two
months, will feel that I do not colodr this statement
too highly. But lam willing to believe that poi-on
so undisguised must carry its antidote with it. Few,
indeed, will, I trust, be found prepared to adopt the
doctrines to which I allade, when presented to view
in their true light and character. But it is against
the occurrence of -a similar evil by more insidious
approaches, against a danger not less certain, although
somewhat less obvious, that it becomes necessary to
guard. It may not, therefore, be altogether useless
to examine a little the course pursued by those
against, whose machinations I would wish to guard
those for whose welfare I am particularly interested.
In the first place, by a circulation much more wide
than has been generally imagined, of publications in
a cheap form, the mass of the people are encouraged,
and taught to treat with indifference, if not with
contempt, 'all obligations of the religion in which
they have been brought up; the instructions to whisk
they have been accustomed to look with reverence,
are held up to ridicule; and the Ordinances of Goo
are violated and opposed by flattering appeals to the
fallible reason of men : upon minds thus prepared,
all evil impressions are withottt difficulty made. The
labour ingclasses of society are told, that the inequality
of conditions, by which they are the sufferers, is alto-
gether unnecessary; and that the sy-aem of subordi-
nation and government, under which this country
has hitherto been placed, is nothing more than a
scheme devised for the purpose of giving wealth and
ease to a few, at the expense of more industrious and
deserving multitudes. Meetings are called in various],
parts of the country, at which immense numbers are'
drawn together, fot the professed pus pose of peace-
ably remonstrating on the necessity of Reform in
one branch of the Legislature: without engaging
ourselves in an inquiry, whether upon any particular
occasion this has or has not been the real purpose of
of those who take the lead at such Meetings, let us
rather consider what are the obvious and almost ne-
cessary consequences of them? Surely we must be
wilfully blind and fool-hardy, if we can view without
alarm, the repeated Meetings of large multitudes
composing altogether an immense mass of physical
force, placed in a great degree at the disposal of,
and prepared to follow the dictates of those who do
not hesitate to avow their desire to see the physical
force of the many employed to serve their triumph
over what they are pleased to call the usurped autho-
rity of the few; surely it is no sign of timidity to feel
that the time is come, when it behoves every man
to use his best endeavours to avert the impending
evil, and to lend his support where it is now wanted-,
in aid of the Constituted Authorities of the country.
I am aware that in this County, and in this City, we
have fortunately less cause for apprehension than in
most parts of the Kingdom. But, when the plague
rages in our neighbourhood, it is impossible to feel
secure from the contagion, and the evils attendant
upon any measure which could be resorted to for the
cure of the mischief, if one suffered to exist--one so
great, that it is the imperative duty of every good
citizen to labour anxiously for its prevention. There
is, indeed, no man in any station of life who has not
some duty to perform, an attention to which may be
of importance at the present crisis. You, Gentlemen,
and those friends who move in the same sphere of
life with you, are placed in a situation of much re•
sponsibility. You have families looking up to you
for examples as well as instruction—you have ap-
prentices, journeymen, servants, dependent upon you
in various relations : these form an important part of
the popAation of this ancient City. Upon their con-
duct you have, or ought to have, a material influence.
Do not hesitate to exert this. Do not suffer them to
be Lost for want of a little trouble on your part. Upon
that most important source of improvement which
depends upon a constant attention to religions duties,
I am sure I need not enlarge : and beautifully and
powerfully as this obligation has upon a late occa-
sion been enforced in this City, it would be an use-
less waste of your time to dilate upon this topic.—
But there are other means by which you are enabled
materially to influence the conduct of those who may
be in any way dependent upon you. When they are
in danger of beireg seduced by the captivating habits
of idleness or pleasure, let them learn from precepts
aid your example, the advantages to be derived from
sobriety and diligent attention to their business. If
you find them assailed by the seductive language of
sedition or blasphemy, call upon them seriously to
examine the doctrines which are thus offered to
their attention, to try them by the test of their
practical effect ; and to judge for themselves whether
those who would lead them by a new path are better
fathers, better husbands, bettermasters, more success-
ful in their pursuits of active life, or more respectable
in age, than those who arc still contented to fear their
Gov and honour the King? If the specious pretext
for Reform appears to make an impression upon your
youthful acquaintances, ask them whether they seri-
ously believe, that the adoption of Annual Parlia-
ments and Universal Suffrage will find a better mar-
ket for our manufactures, give better wages to our
labourers, or remove any of those real evils, the exist-
ence of which we all must admit and deplore, and
which idleness and turbulence must of necessity tend
to continue and increase? When the sacred name
of liberty shall be prostituted to entrap the Unwary,

•
. . -
conjure arose to whom this bait is held out, to pause
before they suffer themselves to be deluded by it ;
teach them that true liberty' has never yet been found
10 result from violent or illegal resistance to esta-
blished
laws ; that it consists not in a freedom from
all restraint, but in the security cf property, the pro-
tection of the person, whether of the Peer or the Pea-
sant, and in the impartial administration of justice;
and then ask them, if it. is probable that these objects
would be better attained, it the schemes of pur mo•
dern Reformers were suffered to succeedl Teach

them also, that that British Constitution, the name,
of which is ever in the mouth of those who s:ek to
destroy its spirit, has established the gradation of
ranks in society ; that the frame of that Constitution
is formed to uphold the dignity of a King, and to
maintain the legitimate authority of those to whom
power is intrusted, no less than to preserve inviolate
the rational liberty of the People. When the vision-
ary scheme of perfect equality is introduced, a::d
your poorer neighbours are in danger of being se•
duced by the prospect of sudden change of a life of
want and labour, to the enjoyment of ease and plenty,
address yourself to their piaia understandings, explain
to them the consequences which must inevitably fol-
low from that destruction of established authority,
and lead them to reflect what must be the state of
that society in which .there would exist no authority
but that which the bold and ambitious would un-
questionably assume to themselves over the meek and
the humble—no power but that of the young and the
strong over the aged and the feeble ; and ask them
to judge for themselves, what sort of security such a
state of things would afford to the earnings of honest
industry, or even to the peaceable enjoyment of life?
There are a few, indeed, who, if their minds be once
brought calmly to consider these things, will, not
shrink foam making the experiment. Such, Gentle-
men, are some of the modes by which those who wish
well to their country may now assist in counteracting
the evil designs which are entertained against her
peace. That such designs are entertained by some,
we are not now left to doubt ; the end proposed, in
plain and daring language, is, not an amendnient,
but an entire change in the system and form of Go-
vernment—not reform and peace, but revolution and
civil war. The means recommended are the employ-
ment of force and a recurrence to the physical
strength of the people. I know that such a scheme is
not sanctioned by any persons of talent or wealth, or
of natural weight in the country : but I know also,
that publications recommending it are dispersed and
read with avidity by soma• in every corner of the
kingdom ; and when I see such a mass of combustible
matter preparing, I cannot doubt the necessity of
keeping a watchful eye to prevent the fatal explosion.
You will have to decide whether James Tucker is to
be put Upon his trial for selling pamphlets charged
to contain blasphemous and seditious matter ? To
discuss, in aslecent manner, any controverted point
in our Religion, is perfectly allowable to all ; but
the Christian Religion is incorporated with, and
forms a part of, the common' law of England. You
will examine the papers or pamphlets which may be
submitted to you, and will form you rown judgment
as to their true character. You will have to consider
whether the individual charged appears to have pub-
lished them, or either of them ? Upon this point . I
will only remark to you, that not only he who first
gives a writing to the Public, but being one who ac-
tively assists in circulating, or giving publicity to it,
is a publisher in the eye of the law, and may be
treated as such in an indictment."