Star.
London, England, 1819-11-20 00:00:00

and which, in his present situation, he thought it
would be better to avoid entering into. • Aldrough
he was happy to lee personally interested, he could
assure the Livery that he did not feel at all more in-
terested in the question, than every other Liveryrnae
• in the City of London most be—(Applause). How-
ever he might. be harassed and oppressed, he felt
'that,he stood in a proud and elevated situation, when
he was placed in a condition, not to defend himself
individually, but the rights of the whole community
of this great ' —(Applause). They had placed
erl47
him in ay lnd responsible situation; but he
could assure ern, that however greatly he valued
the honour that had been conferred on him, if he
could bring his mind to think that his conduct was
not directed by an honest desire to defend the rights
of those who had confided in him, he would, without
the slightest hesitation, lay those honours at their'
feet, and retire from public life—(Applause). But
when he'found that he possessed their confidence, he
was bound to devote all his energies, all his time, all
his exertions, to the defence of their just rights-- I
(Applause). They must make some allowance for
the angry feelings of some individuals. They could
not but suppose, that when they made him the hum-
ble instrument by which those to whom they were
hostile were to be overthrown—by which individuals
who had insulted their feelings, and betrayed their
confidence, were to be opposed—the persons against
whom he had successfully acted, were likely to feel
considerable irritation. It was naturally to be sup-
posed
that those things would rankle deep in their 1
minds, and that they.would seek revenge as. soon as
possible—( Applause). Those persons, impressed
with this feeling, thought that a good and fair oppor-
tunity
had occurred, at once to crush an huMble in-
dividual, and to destroy the privileges which enabled
the Livery to meet together, and gave them the
power, as a compact body, to speak their sentiments
on great political questions, and to choose those per-
sons to represent them; whom they deemed most
worthy of the honour=(Applause). however some
amongst the Livery might f. el indignant-at the con-
duct of these Gentlemen, still they must make consi-
derable allowances for the feelings of individuals re-
deccdao..thia bumble, he would almost say, degraded'
condition—(Applause);; In the situation in which he
was at prkint plac'eltitie would endeavour to refrain
from alluding to the conduct of those persons, even
if -they were present; but, as they were absent, he
should be still more arixious to Itiaid animadverting
on their, proceedings, further than he should be
obliged to do, in consequence of the peculiar circum-
stances of the case. He could only state, that during
the whole course of his political life, he had taken
but one view of the office of Chief Magistrate of the
City. -He differed from many of his friends on that
point. Ile conceived thit.-a Gentleman's political
opiniots should -not esclu4e him, frmai sitting in that
Chair; except;Wilin, trona prejudice, or from some
sinister motive, he had suffered llis political opinions
to warp his judgment in the performance'of his pub-
lic duties.- Much as his politics differed from those
of Mr. Alderman C. Smith, when he found thxt an
attempt was to be made to exclude, him from the'
Civic Chair;on account of his poli:ical principles, he
refused to take any part whatever ia the contest. He
acted on this ground, because, niter, an effort was
made to keep out Alderman Cornbe, it was founded
on the principle of a political exclusion. He at that
time tot* an active part in the eleetiou.of that excel-
lent Mat'iaiiite. -thus :hewing that he was an enemy
td a* 'e elusion merely on account of political opt-
niotts!: • Therefore, whether he was right 'or wrong,
he hid *always acted uith perfect consistency. He
had always held it to be the duty of every man to
support the Magistrates of the City of London. He
had gone further ; .be: had always •thoeght it right,
when a Alagistrate committed any casual 'Mistake,
any errorol.judgment, to look on it with indulgence,
and to give to the-erring party all the credit that was
due for good intentions. But when he saw a sys-
tematic design to insult the Livery, and to trample
on their rights, he had, in common with every man
of independence amongst them, repelled any attack
on their, privileges and inimunitie:s--(Applauzi).-7
Sinnebow er other, by some strange circutpiwce,
certain secrets had transpired with respect to anelher
'body A men. They were told; that these were se-
crets which ought not to be divulged. ' Hp,Would
say nothing about that. He would leave it to the
Livery of London to judge, whether those secrets
ought, or ought not, to-be kept in darkness and con-
cealment from them ? .From these disclosures, how-
.ever, they would see how all those proceedings had
been conducted. lie (Mr. Waithman) had all through .
been acting on the defensive. He had had a very
powerful body to contend with. Out of the whole
number, there were only three or four worthy Alder-
men who stood by him. He went to the Court to
hear charges, of the nature of which he had had no
previous intimation. He believed, with respect to
those proceedings, the Court of Aldermen were as
much in the dal k as he was; because, though they
had given orders for certain legal steps to be taken,
they had not seen the case, or the opinions on which
they were founded. He had much experience in the
business of the Corporation, and he never knew any
instance of similar treatment having been experienced
by a person accused. If a charge were made even
against a Marshal's-man, the investigation would not
be closed without the party being called on for his
defence, allowed to adduce evidence, and to 'state'
what he had to say in his own behalf. This was not
his-case. All the evidence was on one side. He was
all in the dark ; he knew nothing of it. Even when
it was understood that he was on a sick-bed, these
proceedings went on (Show!) and he would tell
them the reason for this precipitancy. In doing so,
he begged them to attend particularly to dates. The
Meeting of the Court of Aldermen took place on Sa-
turday, the 6th- of-November, when this prosecution
against him (Mr. Wait'. man) and others-.-indeed, he
might say, against the whole Livery (True, true! tee
are all in z), was determined upon; he was at the
tsne absent. Wow; on, the Friday preceding, the
opinion of the Legal Gentlemen Was procured, at so
late an hour that the Simnsoning Officer was ealled
out of his bed, at eleven o'clock at night, in order to
summon the< Committee for ten orelock the nett'
morning, who were to report at eleven. Now, why
was this business hurried over thus? The reason was
this—Mr. Alderman Atkins was 'the person who
brought the charge (Mau): Sir William Curtis was
the individdad who moved the Resolution (Hisses) ;
.and Alderman Cox was the Gentleman whoseconant

if
marched
standing o le
4m be Se)
ordero;
utuntil 4 oft
hf.
the Ce
ourt
ht i had
Committee,o
f 11and waitedAldermandermmk:aAnt Eton
made
the 6th
6tnibtl lyf haveou
afr
your present 'Worthy Chief Magistrate. This was one
reason; but there was also another. fly a standing
order of the Court of Aldermen, two senior Alder-
men would have gone off the Committee by the 9th;
and on this occasion, these two Aldermen would have
been Sir William Curtis and Sir William Leighton.
If they had been turned off the Committee, how was
it possible that this plot could have proceeded ?
(Cheers). It was true, that abundance of Counsellors
had been retained to manage it—not less than 'ine
er ten, as he was informed independent of their own
Officers; for it was curious to remark, that though
enormous salaries Were paid to them, salaries full
twice as large as that which was paid to that honest
and independent man, Serjeant Glynn, there was so
little confidence placed in them by the prime movers
in this business, that they travelled beyond them,
and veiled upon the Attorney and Solicitor. General
for assistance. Their conduct reminded him of an
anecdote mentioned in a poem of Ansty, with which
they were well. acquainted:—Mr. Blunderhead, on
his arrival at Bath, fell sick, and was obliged to send
fbr a physician; 'the nurse who attended him said
that he must have more than one, because when a
difficult job was to be transacted, many could ma•
nage it better than a singleindividual. Now in this
case, the worthy Aldermen seemed to be a whole fa-
mily of (Cheers). Besides these circum-
stances, there were several other ireportaut facts,
which, though they bad not reached, would still in
due time reach, the public eir. It was not fining to
disclose them at present, fee. two distinct reasons: the
first was, that as the right was to. be tried in another
'place, they were not to unfold just now the whole
this case; the second was, that some parties whose con•-
duct was implicated by them were not present, and,
therefore, could not vindicate themselves from the'
charges which would be made against them (Cheers).
Though they had not shewn this kindness to him, he
was determined to return them good for evil : not
that he wished any one to suppose from this expres-
sion, that he had wanted any distinction to be paid
to him as an individual—by no means : all that he
*desired• was to have an opportunity of meeting the
accusations which had been urged against him, and
thus of upsetting that plot which had been devised
to destroy the rights and privileges of the Livery: for
if he had been allowed..to examine witnesses on the
different-charges, the trash inserted in that day's Pa-
pers would have been contradicted by at least 500 of
the individuals %shorn he then saw assembled before
him. Another poipt on which he conceived that he
had good reason to complain. was this—that he had
been associated s ith several individuals whom he.
scarcely knew, not for the sake of any sentiments or
principles which they held in common, but forwthe
sake of exciting and prejudice against him on
their account. And on whose affidavit was it that
he was thus arraigned ? Why, on that of the very,
persons—he would not mince the matter—who had
been the most conspicuous in promoting the tumult
of that day—(Applause). He would ask all who
heard him, whether, in the course of their experience,
they had ever seen so large a Hall as that which was
then assembled either at an election time, or during
the agitation of any other important matter, behave
with more order, or in a less tumultuous manner?...
(Cries of" No, no ; all was quiet and orderly.")—Nck
man had ever seen him hies or groan, or shew any
mark of riotous disapprobation : it had always been
his custom 'to defend the side which he espoused by
fair argument, and as much ability as he could bring
to it :—if he could not beat .his adversary by such
means, he would not condescend to beat him by any
other; but would readily yield up to him the palm,
if it could not be retained without clamouring and
confusion. However ludicrous the conduct of their
opponents might have been on other occasions, on
the present, as their object appeared to be the de-
struction of the established Rights of the Livery of
London, it became them, as Members of that Livery,
not only to defend their rights, but their interests, by
preventing their hinds from being exhausted in at-
tacking their dearest franchises, and their Law Offi-
Ors from being employed in subverting those rights,
Which they were bound, by their oath and by their
duty, most carefully to defend—(C'heers). It was-to
effect this purpose, that a 'Hall had been that day
summoned ; and he had no doubt that it would be
found sufficient for the object for which it was de-
signed; inasmuch as it was by neglect that large
!bodies lost their rights, and by Public Meetings that
they maintained those which they enjoyed, and re-
gained those which they had formerly lost. With
regard, however, to Public Meetings in general, all
present were acquainted with his opinions ; he had
always asserted their legality, but had never defend-
ed either their policy or prudence when collected in
large or tumultuous numbers. It was, indeed, more
advisable that they should be held in the same man-
ner as the present Meeting was, because, in such a
case, the two contending parties came before the
Public with pretty nearly equal advantages. Their
opponents, however, said, These are sad, perilous,
and alarming times; the People are• deluded by wild
"and- visonary men; and Meetings in the streets and
fields are pregnant with danger*of.Oiry description."
It wits therefore worth while to examine the measures
whereby they proposed to cure the evil of which they
complained. What, then, were they? Why, in June
lust, *hen 4.:3,000,090 of new taxes were about to be
imposed on the Nation, and the Court of Common
Council was convened in consequence of a Requisition
which it presented to the Lord Mayor, the said Lord
Mayor thought fit to refuse citifies a Common Hall,
though particularly requested to call one. Why.
where were the People to ,meet, under such circum-
stances, except in the fields,and streets ?—(Clatters),
Shortly after this 'another event occurred, which
produced a Requisition for the convening of a Court
of Common Council and a Common Hall ; ',and
again the former was granted, while, the latter wee
denied. This denial produced, however,_ a ream•
stranee from the Livery; and that remonstrance w •
`followed by other measures on their pgrt, 'which had.
ended in the prosecution DOW pending ; though. what
had been recently done had been previously dime by
Aldermen Combe and others, in the Mayoralty of
Sir W. Esdaile. The worthy Alderman then com-
mented on the absurdity of which those
who acknowledged the right of the Live'
and would not allow them the means of

toineee,

that right: and argued, that hyteeheordrinucei
portant that the Liveryt
virtually abrogated that right which thpythem,
I acknowledged to exist. It was, therefore,
should
li n:
tosubhmit to
especially
novel and such arbitrary d''tteinesi
of every party were equally likely
id:ltritpee;d;
ahv,e.lo,muvi
they were once established. A factious
hilst
placed in the Chair, might thencall M • een
carry into execution any factious projeti Non
might chance
tttorwudasetsev
to his political opponents, even if they were Wi
ndi devise,
wi
that to get
th therefore, trusted
the present was no pasty question._•but
which depended the future existence, or nor;
of their most valuable rights and privileges.
these remarks he should conclude his preset
dress to them. He had thought it requisite
the ci
csah?c,
usomrmcsu
team
tnchsit
nea
gsnc
site
ols
gtghi n which
eesmre,;ianildaldtetilielad been
eldidheias niwhit,
greater length than that which he had •
tended ; he should, therefore, take leave
the present, by esi,ressing a hope, ti.
steps they might think prei_r to take would
vigorous, and decisive, at the same time ih
were-marked with temp,:rance and modem:
would
give
m eanetrhyena sres traeisld''
spuocl,he
rs.t e plsl he e
worthyw
front of the hustings, amid the long and ci
cheers of the attendant Liverymen.
Mr. Titostevoe said, that he came forwar,
dress the Livery, because he was one of tie
who had been raised to the high hopour
prosecuted. for defending their Rights and Pri
Ile condemned, in severe terms, the conduct
derman Atkins, during his Mayoralty, and ci
laced the City on having obtained a Chief 31,
ho seemed willing to cultivate a good inn
ing with his fellow. citizens. Ile complied ,
ceedings in 16/0, when Pilkington, Shute, Jcili
others, were tried for creating a riot in the I
the present proceedings against Alderman V.
and the Gentlemen connected with him ; at
sundry other observations, concluded his c;
exhorting them, whatever might be the resu,
present prosecution, to hand down the tigi,
they had received from their ancestors, um
and unimpaired to their poste:ity—(Cliee,x.
The Resolutions were then put, and car n
the loudest acclamations. Not more than
were held up against them.
Mr. CROOK (a Member of the Common
then stood forward. Ile would not occuE
their time, after the very-able and eloquent
in WhiCh the &use had -that day been cc/
His object in now addressing them was to
veral Resolutions, ia which, he trusted, in
meet with their supports. The worthy Mani
moved the last four Resolutions.
On the Vote of Thanks to Sheriff PAnsiNs
passed by a great majority, that Gentleman adv.
to the front of the hustings. Grateful as he le!
his brother Liveiymen and fellow-citizens for
honour they had just done him, in_ vroving
humble efforts in their cause,, he could not lie!,;
the same time stating to them, that he had rat •
slightest intention to have addressed them, hal
come there merely in discharge of lii::*duty as
their public officers. They were aware of tit
ceedingsswlttich had been instituted against him ei
where; but on these he would make•lin•obsenati,
at present, as he thou-gig it mcirennudept.to asu
taro what they would do hi the .r..st instance. 1,
observed, that in some Public Prints hr was called
Radical. Now what was meant by being a nadir
he was utterly at a loss to know ; and' be aerie;
wished that these Papers had stated wlfiateheymc
whether they meant radically bad or radically gm,
He would, however, inform these writers, that hew ,
a Radical Reformer of all Abuses, a Radical Say
porter of the glorious Principles of the British
atitution, a Radical Defender of the Chartered
'and Privileges of the City of London, and a Ita,
Anglistiman !—(Applausc). He again thanked
for the honoqr they had done him, and could .
them he would devote every moment and hour
Isis life in the cause of the People.
• Mr. Huns' then stood forward amidst applause
!and hisses. He observed, that, by their Resolutions,
they had claimed the right of flee discussion, and ne
hoped they would hear the few words he had to say.
—(" No, no," and “ Go on." A person on the hustings
.erred out " You'll spoil all.")—Mr. Hunt then repeated
these words, and asked how he could possibly sped
'all, as the Resolutions had already been carried? It
would be more manly in that person to come forward
at once and speak boldly, than attempt to raise a cla•
mour. He would only trouble them with a few words
on the observations made by the Mover aQd Seconder
of these Resolutions. Unanimity was said to be a de-
sirable object, yet there never was a Commit Ilan
held in which there was not an attempt to vilify t!..e
character of Meetings held in the open air. 'IN
Mover of the Resolutions had slightly alluded to
them, but the Gentleman who seconded them had
stated 'that he objected to such tumultuous 3lectiass,
as many pet-sons took advantage of them for seindi
purposes. What 1 were the Livery assembled in Coal-
mon Hall to have the sole right of petitioning, ar-1
were all other Bodies to have no such right
Here a violent hissing began, when
, ,
Mr. ROWCROFT spoke to order. He ooserseL,,
there was no question before them, and therefore Inc
Gentleman who was now addressing
them, had rct
right to act as he was doing, the purposes for raid
the Livery were convened being now accomplished—
(Loud applause).
Mr. HUNT seemed determined to persevere, bat
waS presented, by the marks of disapprobation, iron
going on.—The motion of thanks to the Lord Mayer
being pat,
Mr. HUNT renewed his efforts to be heard, when z.:e
confusion again was renewed. Ile contended he lark
a right to be heard, and was determined to be Ilea:j
—(y; of! Shame, shavne !).—The opposition to hell
here increased, and the wish for his retiring seem:
'to be general. Mr. Rowcroft then went up to him,
and advised_ him to-retire, laying, at the same time,
his hand on his shoulder; on which Mr. Hunt turned
.
round, and 'in a 'rather violent manner exclaimed,
" Keep your hand off me, Sir."
The Vote of Thanks to the Lord Mayor was thee
put, and carried unanimously.
The LORD MAYOR then came forward to the frog:
'shed n1.41k,
of the hustings, amid the must distingtu

et 1, Of
last bit
to a for
' HC
jUre, nb
if t .du
tints no
hie-h to
want..
kit
t •
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t thl
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laced,
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iCIA th
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• 'tit
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&bat e ad
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ce 3.: 3.
[ float • Il
duntia% tl,
ri to
is Per • c.
nt.
tl
act t f • b;
congra: tl
.bi
idera• ;
d the p,
Icnkc,a d
I tail, E
and i
sl
e eitt an s ill:'3 1
;
u :
tied, all I
sia h3l. p
n Court, r
illy any
mar. 2
:cnduca a
move
he
nbcr ft
INS tar
aciv2r...
he felt
ns for
ing cf
of help •
d ret .•
11, has ,
as one
f the pro.
him eke-
senaticas
n ;to wer•
ince. lie
.s called a
therefore
ley meal,
Illy good
tat he n• V
ical Sup-
itish Con.
.ed
a Radical
tked then
uld assure
I hour of
applause
!solutions,
Im, and he
;ad to say.
re lizotings
I repeated
sibly sped
rried It