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

' cooyd•• • • • •
not o saving, at some "of these who
,• •
now administered aid to the sufferers, were in such
' asimation that they knew not whether in't vo months
hence, they would not require.the same r:lief them--
. selves. This brought another question u %der consi-
deration. How Could all these evils have accumu-
lated ?—to this the plaih answer was, the w.lr was
the source of them all—that war which, in the shape
of subsidies, 'carried out of the country a circulating
medium of solid metal to the Amount of more than

£4o,oo3,ooo—(Hear.)' How then could trade re-'
sive, with such an incubus upcn its progression ?
Taxation kept pace with this issue—and Bahl( paper,
of cOurse, kept in the same ratiol and, in the shape
of supplying the drafts made from the circulating
medium, actually doubled its amount—( Hear), and
this quantity of artiliciel Money raised the price of
every article is life, The taxation which this sys-1
tem created was not immediately felt—for the issuel
of Benk notes, while they remained in
.circulation,
packed it down in a great degree. Gentlemen then
used to put their hands into their pockets and take
out a handful of notes,• end say, "Can we not get
beef and mutton, Ste. for those, and do you say they
are not so much money ?" This was all very well,
eti long as the delusion lasted, bat the moment the
bubble burst, then how did the matter stani e When
thetree began to bear its fruit-e-when from sixty to
sreo,ooo,oeo were withdrawn from circulation (for
all the country bank paper speedily diseppe are, and
none but a contracted issue of the Bank of England
remained), then The evil appeared in the naked shape
in which it was predicted. The circulating medium
was gone, and left lee substitute after it. People may
talk of soup shops and subscriptions—why, they were
all good in their way, but it was a small way in the
general devas ation—(Hear.) He would not under-
value such efforts; but, after all, charity was a bad
substitute for labour. It was to tell a sturdy and
intrepid population
.that they must, after all their
struggles arid endurance, submit to beg their bread.
If even they could he trammelled into such degrada-
tion, the evil would still be permament, while the
remedy would be but temporary —( Hear.) To this
it might be asked, .g Well, what will Parliamentary
Reform do, will it feed the people ?" He would
answer, No ; but in investigating an evil, the cause
must be probed and ascertained, before the remedy
was arranged ; and after all their enquiry, it would
appear diet a want of a fair and full Representation
of the People in Parliament, as a check upon the ex-
penditure of the public money, was the plain and
deep cause of all the evils that were now felt through-
out the country. As to the relief which things re-
quired, lie knew well it must be, in the best hands, a
work of elow operation; and that the people must
bear with patience a certain continuance of suffering:
Let their present wants be attended to, but let their
future security be also effected—(Hear.) Let Par-
, liament be required to revise their proceedings, and
yield to the prayers of their constituents. Let them
annul all useless pensions. On this subject of pen-
sions some good people, awl those too who were fore-
most in procuring subscriptions, exclainied—,, Oh !
what good can result from tearing from, 80 persons'
a SU In of ae42u0,000, which was the whole of the Pen•
sion List ? what would that amount to in the general
mass?"—Why, this was a strange sort of argument
to emanate from those who told the country that a
subscription of 8.50,000 would do a great deal, and
yet in the same breath said to knock off 82(X),000
a year would do nothing—(Lord crier of Hear.)--
He was never a visionary re former, nor ever attended
the meetings of those persons who, twenty years ago,
harangued the people on such topics, and played the
game of Ministers with success—(llear.)—He was
lately asked to take a part in such a proceeding, but
he declined, from a wish to avoid the company with
which he must necessarily associate in the arrange.
ment of the business, or to attend at all, well know.
lug that he must come to issue with them—a sort of I
rupture that he, from the nature of his health, dis-
liked betere a concourse of two or three thousand
persons. He conceived such leaders dangerous, and
he did not want firmness to shake them off and leave
them to their own insignificancy. On die great sub-
ject of Reform, they all know that the Cornish Bo-
roughs return more Members to Parliament than did
the four largest Counties in England—(Hear.) The
Anti-reformers said, 4, We know all that ; but if you
once allow the system to be thrown open, then you
open an inlet to such contusion, that the people will
in the end overthrow the Government." What, the
• suffer-
ings
people !—the people, who hZve borne all their suer-
ings and struggles with patience—who have fought
the battles of their country, aed seen pensioners feed-
ing on their spoils !—These are the people whose re-
turn for such endurance is-44 Oh I they can bear to
see the Constitution destroyed, but they'll rebel if
you attempt to ameliorate it, and with it their con-
dition."—(Cries of Hear.) Let no such trash be ut-
tered against a patient and intelligent people (Hear.)
The Bill of Rights ordained frequent Parliaments to
redress the people's wrongs; and yet, according to
the modern practice, the more the people were ag-
•grieved, the less they should complain; for, if their
voice was heard tinder the severity of their sufferings,
they must at once be pronounced on the eve of a re-
volution, and the Parliament they had sought to have
convened still further protracted—(Hear.) The
Worthy Gentleman then alluded to the bitter opera-
tion of the absentees, who, instead of attending to
the improvement of their estates and consequent em-
ployment of their people, departed for the Continent,
and there not only spent their taxes, but some of them
the unworthy pensions which they wrung from those
taxes. Any man with but three acres of land could
employ some hands ; but how many might not those
wite tive hundred acres employ, who were running
away from the distresses that prevailed, and spending
their rental jet other countries—(Hear.) No econo-
-1 my short of a national one would now be of any ser.
vice. A new manufacture of fuel was talked of, but
this would go for nothing, like the other palliatives ;
for if it was successful, what would become of the
immense number employed in the collieries ? No-
thing would be found efficient but an honest House
of Commons, which would bring back the Constitu-
tion to its original character. For the attainment of
this great and paramount object, he would beg leave
to propose the following Resolutions (for which see
ilekertieetnent.)
These Resolutions were received with great ap-
plause.
Mr. Sheriff Kiawr rose to second the Motion for
the adoption of these ResOlutions. He could not,