Star.
London, England, 1821-01-02 00:00:00

MEETING OF THE COUNTY OF FIFE.

Thursday last a Meeting of the freeholders, Jus-!!
Res of the Peace, and Coninii:sioners of Supply of
the enmity of File, was heid in the County Rooms,
at Cupar, eursuant to a Requisition, very respect-
ably signed, for the purpose of considering of the
propriety of voting a Loyal Addres, to his M-waesyr,
on the present state of the country. By half-past
twelve, the most numerous assemblage had collected
ever witnessed In the County Rooms, except on elec.
lion occasions.
Mr. CLEFIIANE. Sheriff-Depute for the County,
moved that the Bari of Kellie be requested to take
the Chair. which was carried unanimously.
The Earl of KEI.LIE on taking the Chair, briefly
stated the objec• s of the Meeting, which he said were,
to consider of declaring their loyalty to the Thrctne,
hnd attachment to the Constitution, and afterwards
to esnres•their sentiments on the state of the country.
General Dtritnata then rose and said My Lord,
I bez leave to move, that the following Address be
adopie tby this Meeting. •
The Address was handed to the Sheriff Depute,
and read by him to the Meeting. It professed loyalty
and attachment to the Throne and Constitution, com-
plained if disaffection and sedition, and pledged the
country to resist their attacks.
The Address having- been read, Mr. Taos. BRUCE,
of Grangemnii, rose and said—" My Lord, I beg
leave to second the Address which has been just
read," and sat down—( Hear ! from Me Opposition).
Mr. Avrous, of Inchdairnie, in rising to propose
an amendment on the Addiess which had just been
proposed, •Asserved, he was quite aware of the im-
portance and advantage of addresses ; he was fully
convinced cf the value 'attached to them; and for
6" very mason, he should object to any Address
being forwarded to his Majesty, with the professed
object of the present Address, without the sentiments
of the People, II egai ding the acts of his Majesty's Mi-
nisters, being fully and freely embodied in it. On
a laze occa,ion he did not feel quite certain re-
specting the merits of !Ministers, and then he gave
them the advantage of that doubt ; but he no longer
hesitated on that subject, when he beheld the disas-
trous tendency of the late conduct of Government;
and he was confirmed in his confidence when he
looked :ound and beheld the presence of so many
persons who were unaccustomed to attend Political
Mcangs, but who had been impelled forward on the
present oco.sion by a similar conviction respecting the
conduct of conviction that was actually
felt and loudly expressed from every end of the coun-
try. He, therefore, was convinced that he should not
discharge his duty as a freeholder unless he came for-
ward in that capacity, and protested against the adop-
tion of a .y measure at that Meeting which might be
construed into an approval of their general conduct.
Mr. Ayteun. after stating briefly his reasons for dis-
approving of the proposed Address, then proceeded
to read his Amendment. It represented the loyalty
d the Meeting in spirit and terms as strongly as in
the original Address ; it expressed a regret for disaf-
fectioa, it any existed, and for the licentiousness of
the Press on both sides of the question, and recom-
mended an alteration in the measures of his Majesty's
Government. The Address was much applauded.
A pause here ensued, no one appearing willing to
rise to answer Mr. ATTAIN'S speech. The Noble
Chirman then proposed to put the question, to which
Sir JOHN OSWALD assented. _ _

Mr. CUNNINGHAM, of Donloch, now rose, and in
animated terms called on the supporters of the ori-
ginal Address to say .something, if they could, in its
farour. It was in vain, he said, to suppose that any
material point could be gained on such an occasion
br mere numerical strength. They might as well
41l a Meeting and determine by vote, that the Co-
pernican, or any other system of philosophy, is false,
as attempt to put down political opinions by vote.—
in short, if this Address were successful, it was im-
possible, on any future occasion, to expect that any
opposition, however reasonable, could prevail, orthat
any misconduct of Ministers, however flagrant, could
procure their conslenmation.
The SHERIFF-DEPUTE said, that as one who was
requested to assert his reasons for supporting the pro-
posed Address, he was willing to gratify the Gen-
tlemen who had called on him by ail the means in
his power. His round for supporting the Address
was, the manner in which the Government, during
and since the progress of that me.; :Ire, had been
treated by a class of the people. The Queen was de-
clared triumphant"—such was their expression:
and it had been boldly asserted, that it was not the
cause of justice which had prevailed, but the influ-
ence of the people. Such a doctrine, he maintained,
was dangerous, and he appealed to history for con-
irmation of his opinion. The same was the notion
propagated in France previous to the Revolution ;
and France proved such language could not be held
with safety to the State. The power of the people
vas flattered and extolled, till, filled with the idea
of their own greatness, they were tempted to exert it.
The consequence was, the King bled on the scaffold:
Did the people then surround the Throne, and at-
tempt to staunch its wounds? No, they had become
so patriotic, that they could see the blood of their
Soveieign besprinkle the scaffold without remorse,
without one exertion in his defence. The conviction
that it was only by rallying round the Throne that they
could now prevent the occurrence of a similar catas-
trophe to that of France—Weer, front :he (ppositiln)
compelled him to support the present Loyal Declara-
tion of their principles, and not on account of the late
measuies of Ministers. And if such was the drift of
the Honourable Gentlemen who had pressed for his
opinion, he would tell them plainly, in the words of
a former Monarch of this country, that he would not
consent to put out this set of Ministers to make room
for another to come in.

Colonel WzmYss said, he was one of the Requisi-
Conists ; but although he had spoken to 5/JOO men
itt the field, he had never addressed a County Meet-
kg before. His principles were those of the Revo-
lution of King Wiliam, of glorious memory. If he
NO been King at this time, to use a homely phrase,
)1' would have played h—lt with the present Minis-
ten—(Cheers and vehement applause).—The gallant'
Colonel, before he sat down, shook hands cordially
Vith Mr. Stuart acioss the table, and said, with
%itch feeling. he ished him and all his Whig friends
he11—.01,4,T applause).
Captain Ayrousr, Royal Artillery, said, when he
abject oFwirich was

evidently to approve his Majesty's 'Ministers, he felt
it his imperative duty to protest against it. After a
spirited refutation of the observations of Mr. Sheriff-
Depute on the influence of the People, Captain Ay-
toun adterted particularly to the disregard to justice
in the case of the Queen; and contended that it was
impossible for the country not to be alarmed at such
proceedings, even though the accused had been a
murderer. And yet they were now called on by ,
those who thought so lightly of these stretches :
power, to express to Ministers an alarm for the safety
of the Constitution, when the Constitution was only
threatened by Ministers themselves—(Hear, hear!).
He concluded by supporting the Amendment, for it
was only by the change of measures which it recom-
mended, that this country can again enjoy its for•
mer blessings.
Mr. STUART, younger, of Dunearn, said, that being
so much indisposed as to be hardly able to attend the
Meeting, nothing would have roused him to speak,
but to bear testimony to the gallantry of his Honour-
able friend (Colonel Wemyss) who, though deserted
by hi; friends, his Co-requisitionists, had with the
bravery characteristic of his family, come forward
and frankly declared himself attached to the prin-
ciples of the Revolution—( Cheers).—He must ob-
serve, once for all, that it was most singular that not
one of the remaining Requisitionists had come for-
ward to state the grounds on account of which they
had called the county together. It was for them tri
consider whether they were treating the county with
the respect to which it was entitled—but most of ail
he alluded to the Mover and Seconder, who had not
said one word more, the one than that he presented,
and the other that he seconded it— ( Hear, hear ! ).
. He conjured the Meeting not to follow the example
set in such times, but to address his Majbsty in the
language of truth, to beseech him to adopt a conci-
liating line of measures, and to save the country
from revolution, to which the ,measures of Ministers
are headlong carrying as—(Cheeral.
Sir JOHN OSWALD having been called upon, and
personally marked out, in the course of this debate,
could not resist the opportunity of addressing a few
words. He was always prepared to defend the prin-
ciples he asserted, but he deprecated the attempted
innovation of bringing down the Meetings of coun-
try gentlenien to the standard of a debating forum
for angry discussions, and to the level of Meetings
such as disgrace the Metropolis. He deprecated any
such idea. But when so urgently called upon, it
might be as well if the invitations were occasionally
accepted, if it were only to convince the Talents,
that they are as little capable of intimidating as of
engaging the minds of those who are the friends ~f
the present Administration. He would not presume
to compare, though, as they appear to challenge it, 11
it might be worth while briefly to contrast the short
administration of the Talents with that of the -pre-
sent Government. He had served under the Talents,
and a most miserable set of masters he found them.
He saw the wretched army they sent into Egypt; lie
recollected the ill-equipped fleet they sent to Con-
stantinople. But, more that. all, he had not forgot-
ten their treatment of the present Queen, that Illus-
trious Lady. He knew her to be the daughter of a
hero and a statesman, whose name will last as long
as the memory of the virtuous is regarded. He
knew her to be the sister of a hero, who aided, by
his exertions, in crushing the power of the great
tyrant. He could not but recollect that Lady, and
touched with the utmost delicacy on whatever re-
garded that Lady. Might he venture to compare
the conduct of the two Administrations towards that
Lady? He recollected the treatment of this Illus-
trious Lady by the Administration of the Talents.
By their secret tribunal—a Court of Inquiry lie
would have called it, after his professional voca-
bulary, but by a Court of Inquiry the appeals of the
accused are heard, and exculpatory proof received
—before the secret tribunal of the Talents, this 117

lustrious Lady was tried without being once heard
in her own defence; by their secret tribunal she was
banished from Court, and afterwards restored with
an admonition, than which he could not conceive
anything more humiliating to her dignity and
honour, unless it be the libellous and slanderous Ad-
dresses with• which her Majesty is from time to time
insulted. The reign of the Talents, fortunately, only
lasted eight months, during which the parallel, if it
be any at all, was certainly very much to the advan-
tage of the present Government. Sir John concluded
by complaining of the popular clamour which had
been excited against the present Administration.
The Earl of Itosstxu felt quite sure that the
Gentlemen who listened to the last speech must be
satisfied that when the gallant Officer was challenged
to come forward, he was done a kindness, and no
great hardship; and they must conclude, not from
the talents, but from the oratorical and declamatory
tone and taunting which the gallant Officer dis-
played, that he required but little to induce him to
come forward. The Gentlemen, he congratulated
the Meeting, had at last thought proper to assign
two grounds for'proposing their Address. The first
reason given them by one Gentleman, was a pane-
gyric on the revolution of our own country ; and the
other reason was a lamentation, by another Gentle-
man, over the revolution of another country—(Loud
laughter). But seriously he did conceive they were
bound to assign some rational cause for the present
Address. If it was necessary to pronounce a Decla-
ration to support the Constitution, what occasion was
there to call the County together for that purpose ?
Why not as effectually proclaim their intention to
suppo* the Constitution every market day at Cupar,
when a number of people are assembled ? (Laughter).
From stating any marked necessity for the; measure
they had forborne. He regretted to perceive an at-
tempt by such Addresses as this to support Minis-
ters—to combine and unite them, and even to iden-
tify them with the King. His Lordship proceeded
to assert his ova and the People's right to express
their opinioastim all public matters. He afterwards
replied to the opinion of the gallant General (Sir J.
Oswald) on the comparative merits of the two Ad-.
ministrations (Whig and Tory). The gallant Gene-1
rays representation, however, happened to be any
thing but like the true account of the ca:e. The
statements regaroing the• Queen were made by au-
thority of her husband to that Administration► so dis-
respectfully alluded to by the gallant General, and
the charges consAei not merely of misconduct, but
of having endangered tl*succession to the Throne—
' pleat heat), by having endeavoured to impose on is
spurious issue. It was an inquiry by four of his

Majesty's *elected Ministers, with a vier: to inform
the King whether there existed any grounds for fur-
! ther proceedings. This Committee received affitla-
: vits in exculpation, one from d principal accused in
• the conspiracy, and ntit evidence on one side only—
(Hear, hear), but much of her Majesty's exculpatory
proof—( Hear, hear). The late proceedingi of his
present Majesty's Ministers, he humbly conceived,
were of a very different character. They had their
previous Court of Inquiry, the Milan Commission, but
what evidence for the Queen was examined by them ?
—.He had gone a little out of the way, for the pur-
pose of adjusting the comparison of the gallant Ge-
neral: He had now to come more directly to the
question before the Meeting. He thought they had
a right to be told what were the grounds of that ne-
cessity for the present Address which had been spoken
of so repeatedly by Gentlemen on the other side.—
His Lordship proceeded to defend the People from
the slander they had incurred by presenting Ad-1
dresses to her Majesty. Those Addresses proceeded
not from the lower orders of the People, and were
not mere clamour, as they had been interpreted to
be by some Gentlemen, but the unresisted and un-
resistible voice of the Country, pronouncing its con-
demnation, in the first place, on the proceedings
against her Majesty, and afterwards on the evidence.
He submitted that it was the expression of all, ex-
cept a few of the higher order, who thought that the
friends of the present Government were the only
friends of the Constitution. A Learned Gentleman
had stated, as it were, a charge against the Ilouse
of Lords and the People. the former for having
abandoned, and the latter for having disapproved cfl
the Bill of Pains and Penalties. That it was a judg-
ment. influenced by the People he would deny. lit
the House of Lords, much difference of honest opi-
nion no doubt existed—he and others were prepared
to give her Majesty a complete verdict of Not Guilty
—( Loud cheers) ;—but it was not strictly a question
of " Guilty or Not Guilty," but whether the inquiry
was advantageous or necessary ? On the question of
that expediency, he for one, must contend, the People
had a right to express their opinions, and to exert
that intellectual influence which they always must
possess over every tribunal in the country. .If it had
been an ordinary case of indictment or impeachment,
the People would have had too much good sense and
prudence to have interfered ; but it was a legislative
proceeding, and they had a right to express their
opinion on a measure affecting their interests and
rights. He protested, in the abstract, against such
a stretch Sovereign power as Bills of Pains and
Penalties are, and only justifiable on extraordinary
and urgent occasions ; and they ought, before they
became laws, to go through eight stages in the Lords
and Commons (the first question being as to the pro-
priety of their adoption), and had received the Royal
Assent. He would submit, that if the ground of
charge against the People was their expression in fa-
vour of the Queen, he could only say, that lie was
prepared to have given a vote of Not Guilty ; but on
the question of expediency, he would have voted
against the proceedings ; for he thought no measure
for a series of years so mischievous or fatal in its ten-
dency, as the one which brought into discussion the
private vices of one branch of Royalty, and drew
asunder the veil, in order to seek out the private
vices of their Monarch, instead of beholding him
only in that resplendent character of the fountain
of grace, honour, and mercy--(Hear, hear)..
He had but one other remark to make; and it was,
that these proceedings, with whomsoever and how-
ever they originated, were abandoned by those who
brought them in, after voting both for and against
them, under the conviction, in which the whole of
the House of Lords, except eight or nine individuals,
the whole of the Commons, and the People, concur-
red—sthat the measure was disadvantageous to the
country. It was well known that the Radicals had
looked with anxious hope for the passing of that
Bill, and his Lordship believed that Mr. Cobbett was
the first "man to regret its abandonment. Had the
Bill passed, besides the obvious charges that her Ma-
jesty's Judges, Jury, and Prosecutoria consisted of the
same persons, the gadicals could have relied much
on the general imputation of Court influence and
expectancy; and they could have adverted, he hoped
not disrespectfully, to the representative part of the
Peerage, who are very generally believed to hold
their places at the breath and will of the Ministers.
The proceeding, however, had been put an end to,
and the, Radicals were deprived of that-pretext.
They must now confess that the Houses of Parlia-
ment, without imputing to them an unworthy fear,
have some feeling in common with the People. His
Lordship, after a few other remarks, concluded amid
the loud plaudits and cheers of the Meeting.
Mr. Feaousoa, of Raith, then addressed the Meet-
ing ably in support of the amendment.
Captain WEIIYSS, M.P. declared his approbation
of the original Address. The Meeting then divided.
For the Address 85; for the Amendment 55—Majority 50.

an &Rims Froposed, the