Star.
London, England, 1819-07-16 00:00:00

• - •
Honourable House to attract attention ; cor c

omit to remonstrate against the course
thereon been taken, as utterly inadequate :(

.. .
even palliate,. the moral disease, and its ..„
sequence to the State. •
Ihe infamy that has thus been acci .111 V r.
posed, is by no means confined to a few
iniquity • it is the characteristic of all th 0....
corruption called open Boroughs. And alt;„,,
those called close, the depravity assumes a
shape, and wears another gall), yet there it i,
more malignant towards our democratic freedoi
inasmuch as 411 close Borough despotism, i• untnixi
aristocratic Usurpation, unmitigated hostility to u
lic liberty.
" The nefarious and horrid means whereby c;
Boroughs are made close have been recently

plified—at Ilchester, where, to the reproach of tl.e
in which we live, has been exhibited a spectacle, mc,
inhuman and most biota' ; but truly characleri...;
the deadly Borough contarrb ion, which as a de:014;,.;
pestilence, threatens to sweep from the land all :a,
ral health, all freedom, and every vestige of the m.. 1:
virtues of a free people. The principal poi:rim;
that town (who in 1804 was. voted incapable of r.
presenting Ilchester, because of his grciss b7ibery
corruption) was not, it seems, satisfied with hasi
on that occasion reduced tile number of elector:,
having pulled. down about a hundred _homes,
drh4n the wretched householders thus disfrancl

by being paupers, intp a great workhouse, which
had prepared for the purpose ; for the said propr;e:
did again lately, at an inclement season, namely, i.
January last, cause to be ejected from the said cur;.
house, and turned into the street, all the said pauper,
regardless of age, infirmity, or helpless infancy, bei%
one hundred and sixty-three human beings ; and thu,
he henceforth hoped to reign a ruthless tyrant me
the desolation he had made, that he might, by ti•A
sovereign will, as lord and rna.;:er ct. a depopulate.;
Boroug-h appoint tyro of the Members cf
nourable'Couse, there to sit, and vote as tHe derzti:.
of his despotism.

The heart which sickens not at this talc of bar
barity, which throbs not with indignation at this br:•
tality, and which revolts not at this Satanic mode co:
forging the worst link in the galling chain of ear
thraldom, must be as unfeeling as the monster Eno-
self. We hope there is not such a heart in your Ha
nourable House.

4, It is not a question between landlord and tenant
but between unprincipled usurpers, and the wrong
Commons of the Realm, that we call to the recollec•
tion of your Honourable House this Ilchester case:
for therein, as in a faithful mirror, may be seen re•
Betted the true image of a wide-spread conspiracy,
operating by a deadly crime against the life of the
State ; a crime no other than that of a premeditated
artful, and even active treason ; to the proof of scliltks
accusation your complainants solicit the seriuus atter,
tion of your Honourable House.

Treason is the violation of Sovereignty. Jo Ile
English Constitution there are three distinct species
of Sovereignty, namely—that of the Nation; that cf
the Parliament ; and that of the King. The detioi•
tion of Sovereignty is in its having, in relation to its
object or objects, no superior. The objects cf the
nation are self-preservation, freedom, and liapp:,.,:ss;
its Sovereignty is original, underived, inherent. and
necessarily absolute. The nation accordingly t;iied,
adopted, and ordained a Constitution, with its ors,a-
nization of necessary authorities, for the management
of its affairs ; or, in other words, for its governmeat,
to the ends of its own preservation, freedom, and hap-
piness. The sovereignty of the Parliament is net
original, but dependant ; not underived, but a der-
tation ; not inherent, but conferred ; not absolute, but
a trust ;—a trust limited for the service of the natior,
to the following ends and objects, namely, to the per-
forming, as occasion may require, Constitutional Le-
gislation, for controlling Executive Power in all its
departments and ramifications ; and for officiating is
general as conservator of the Constitution, as Prv-
tector of the People against illegal Power, by re-
dressing those grievances which none else
can redress.

"In these offices-of Government, the Parliament
having no superior, is Sovereign. The sovereignti
of the King is still more limited, being confinedto
exercising the executive authority of the State,l
which having no superior, lie is of course Sovereir.
But the sovereignty of Parliament being divides be:
tween the King, a few Lords, and the Commrs
House, which last ought to represent the entire ra•
tion, with the exception only of the King and 'J
few Lords, it is evident that the Commons' House. i:
respect of the life of the State, is the most vital crgal
and the very heart of its legislative sovereignt'. 1:
is, therefore, manifest, that whoever stabs this hrut:
this vital organ of the nation's freedom, by persor.:.,F
usurping a single seat in your Honourable Hous,.7:
by placing therein by force, fraud, or corrur!::::
any other usurper, is undeniably guilty of tre:uoll..:
therein violating the sovereignty of the peopl‘'•
necessarily follows, that every overt act for Lle-1.7-
deafly, corruptly, or by intimidation, violatiog
freedom of election for influencing even a single
in returning a Member to your Honourable 1101:..,-
, is an incipient act of treason.
" For the fitness of your Honourable House, h
ing an exclusive juridical authority in all matt:..,
election, it is argued, that if the Courts of Law
permitted to take cognizance of diem, then the •-•
as havirE, by appcda final jurisdiction, might sso: