Star.
London, England, 1816-11-29 00:00:00

their salutary influence, ctinimund the ifooii crpi:
nion of the people, whb would test implicitly,on their
efforts, and refrain from any act of violence, as well
as bear with resignation the burdens they must sus-
tain.--(4Hear, hear.) He would not allude any fur-
ther eith r to that party who live on the taxes of the
people, or those who misrepresent the people. Of the
latter, he held it unfair to speak at greater length in
.their ah,ence. He would, therefore, pass to the
greater topic, and draw the attention of the Court to
a few facts, which would come the stronger on their
attention as they arose in the shape of precedent, and
to precedents they could not too often revert. This
Court had, at the conclusion of the American war,
arraigned the conduct of the Government in strong
terms for the inexpediency and injustice of that war.
The people re-echoed that feeling, but the Parliament
supported the war. Notwithstanding this corrupt
exercise of power, the people, when too late, pre-
vailed, and prevailed (if some Gentlemen pleased)
by their clamour.—(Hear.) The consequence of that
war was a great and heavy distress, but nothing like
the distress which prevailed at the present time. It
became necessary to revert to facts, however tedious

the recurrence might appear; because, when men,
whose only object was die prevention of evil, were
charged with an intention of diverting the public
mind from the rval grievance under which it was
affects& it became doubly incumbent upon them,
when so calumniated and misrepresented, to guard
against every such attempt. Had the people been
fairly represented, the American war would not have

taken place. At the close of that war, the voice of
the people, expressed through votes of the Corpora.

tionof Lundoti, its variuus Liveries, and other great
bodies in the kingdom, aided by powerful men, suc-
ceeded in drowning the influence of evil counsellors,
and putting an end to that calamitous war. In the
year 1781, the Right Hon. William Pitt received an
Address from the City, in consequence of a motion

of his in the Huuse Commons, on the 7th of De-

cember of that )ear, in favour of Parliamentary Re..
ttnm. In his answer to that Address, the Right
Hun. Gentleman proceeds in these words:

" I will brg leave to tuke the earliest opportunity of expressing
how happy I am that my motion of the 7th instant hat ma your
approbation; and I beg to assure you that my exertions shall
never be wanting in teat cause of Reform which I believe to be
most esettts.tily necessary to the safety of the Constitution and to
the In st interests of the people."

—Mr. Fox also, to his immortal honour, never
flinched fruin this great question, and at all times
gave it a decided and unequivocal support, both in
and out of Parliament.—(Hear.) He even carried
his feeling for it so far, that when propositions of an
ideal character were attached to it, he continued his
support, resting for the amelioration of such crude
ideas to the future arrangements in Committee, or
otherwise, which must accompany the maturity of all
fi:.,t propositions. When a Minister, he gave the
same support ; and in the native manliness of his
character, was the same to it wherever it appeared.
For such conduct he was thanked by the Common
Council. Indeed they had repeatedly thanked a
I number of great men, who stood forward in its cause
—so that it the advocates of Reform were in error,
they were consoled with a fellowship among the
greatest men the country ever produced ; and in the
then discusssion in Parliament, they could c.mnt
thirty-two of the most distinguished men in' the em-
pire.—(Herr, hear, hear.)—When Mr. Pitt on the
second occasion introduced the same subject to Eli.
liament, he mainly grounded his argument on the
necessity of guarding against a recurrence of the rash
and ruinous expenditure of fresh wars, which he said
could not be done without a Reform in Parliament.
He was right in his prophecy, and what rarely face
curred to men, he lived to fulfil his own prediction,
and to involve the country, through the want of Re.
form, in a fresh and equally ruinous war, which sacri-
fleet' the wealth and blood of the nation.-;-(Hear,
i:ar, heir.)—The Worthy Gentleman then referred
to the fOrmer proceedings of the Court, such as those
of 180 S, 1810, and March, 1816, in which they had
recorded sentiments much stronger than any Much
he now meant to submit. Unless, therefore, they
could prove his sentiments manifestly wrong, they
must agree to them, or act at variance with their
former recognised and repeated opinions.—(Hear,
hear, hear.)— If consistency formed a part of public
charaCter in the good sense of the term, he trusted
the Corporation of London would not recede from
that virtue, but would record it by their good acts.
They had * right to maintain an influence in the opt.
nion of the public, and it they had not that influence,
the fault must be their own—(Hear.) If they were
not looked up to, they must deserve such treatment.
If they act moderately, but firmly, they would main-
Uhl a preponderance, and prevent the occurrence of
those unfortunate popular disorders which the ra-
vings of knaves and madmen were likely to produce
on the irritated minds of the lower classes. All he
required of the Court was, to repeat what they had
dope on Mr. Maddox's motion, an the seat-selling
affair, between two Ministers of the Crown and other
occasions of a similar nature. He only wanted them
to open their eyes to a system vvhich engendered a
wasteful expenditure, and rejected every kind of con.
troul. It was that expenditure which caused the pre-
sent distresses; and surely it was not too much to
enquire whether they could be traced to that source,
or if by possibility any other origin could be found
for them—any such, for instance, as the state of the
weather, the stagnation of trade, from any particular
or local cause, er any other such visitation ? Pallia-
tives would not do.here. The Corn Bill had its day,
and, as was well predicted, did nothing. The last
Petition of the Court, even the recommendation of
the Prince Regent to Parliament, on the subject of
economy, was unattended to, though it was ev:dc.nt
nothing but a permanent measure could afford ade-
quate relief. The Corn Bill and similar expedients
were calculated to relieve one set of men at the ex-
pense of another—(llear.) That the Agricultural
interest required relief nobody doubted, but this
could not be done, without pressing upon the manu-
facturing and commercial interests, who were equally
suffering—manufactured goods were sold within the
LA week, to his knoWledgc, at from 25 to 60 per
cent. under the regular price—so that it was in vain
to attempt relieving one class in the community ; in•
deed all were so interwoven together, that what al-
lectcd one must operate upon the others, in a regular
gradation ; each class falls back upon the other,
until the last, as was the case at present, was com-
pelled to resort to charity for subsistence. Here he