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

'he said, 'perform this grateful duty without compli.
minting the Cnmt on the zeal, ability, and modera.
• " • iton d IsplAye:l by !lib flonourdble Friend—the tried
friend of Vie pet-11)k.. who hitcl .s!, ably int!neirced the
' subject this t' Ay (!fear), and who had accompanied
his statement with a fecii; lor the distresses of the
country that did hoc:lt- !n lis head and heat t. He

could not Osa reft ant boo; coogratalating his worthy
Friend on the ptoTect that was thia day unfolded of
seeing the gr:n clustion of Patli.tmentary Reform.
for which he had so many years snuggled, brought •
t,) the eve of its final consommation—(Hearr.), The
Worthy Sheriff here followed ;the Mover in his ani-
mated description of the system of corruption that
unhappily pr:•vailed during the last twenty-five years,

and which subverted the Mod-marks of the Constito-

tion, and' absorbed the real Wealilt of the State—
(Hear.) Tnis overwhelming taxation which so ab.
sorbed the wealth of the State, was created by the
wanton arid unnecessary expenditure of a sanguinary
war, and perpetuated by a representation, (as some
Would call it, but as he would c ill it, a misrepre.

sentation) of the people—(lkar.) It was this that
reduced so greAt a portion et the effective population
of the country t the humility of pauperism—a state
into which they could never have fallen if they had
been fairly represented. Here wad the practical con.
sequence of the borough system, which affected the
rights and properties of the people—(.fiear, hear.)--
It was by such a course that a standing army was .
imposed on the country in a time of p:Atound peace.
The time was then arrived when a radical Reform

might be c tiled for without any degree of popular
danger. When he spoke of Reform, he, of cqttrse,

meant a moderate And constitutional Reform—oze

which would go forth throughout the country as a
proud example, and be followed as it ought to be
throughout the empire, to the discomfiture of the
tools of corruption, and their equally worthless em-
ployers. The Worthy Sheriff eloquently concluied,
by calling on thL friends of the Constitutioe to act as
became them on an recotine like the present, and to
embrace the open and constitutional means of seeking
a redress of their wrongs—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. S. DIXON, after some allusions ti. indisposi.
tion, congratulated the Mover of the ltesrlutions,.anxl
the Court at large, on the moderation of the lone
assumed to-day, as compa.ed with that adopted co
former occasions. The Worthy Gentleman ( Mr.
demlaless, found he could obtain more
by hi; mildness than tic could by his treats. The
great evil, it now appeated, was the distress of the
people, and the great remedy Parliamentary reform.
Now it was a singular fact, that when people were
asked about faniamentztry Reform, they all wished
something could done, and yet when their sense.
ments were canvasse.l, no two agreed upon the point.

(Hear, and cries of 66 We do en r-ee.") ehe %If orthr
Motor had, in his acsoltitions, ernhodied all his pre.
dictions cluting a spice of 241 years that had been
fulfilled; but he forgot to mention those which bad
not—such as the destruction of the tlatglo Spanish
Army, which must be driven into the sea, and a min).
be ut equally singular and improbable conjectures.
'rhe war expenditu!e war., of course,intreduced.-why,
it was necessarily enormous, and the:last year panics.
larly so—and yet it was that year, expensive as it'
was, which struck the final blow, and by so striking
it saved the country the cost of a pro:tatted co/..est.
II should, therefore, have his warm support, whatever
effect the expense may have upon others. Reform in
Parliament was an old nostrum--they had the cape.
tience of its trial in France, where, under the mask of
repairing the structure, they pulled it down, and
could not rebuild it. (Hear.) Some speculative
architects of this kind were indeed disowned by the
reformers in this Court—they were called raving
madmen—and yet, if he was not mistaken, those who
disowned them now, when they got too cheap, had
acted with them in the Guildhall of this City. He
particularly alluded to Mr. Hunt, who was,he sup-
posed, alluded te by the Worthy Mover. (Load fries
lof Order! and csnriderable interruption.)
Mr. WAITIIMAN—" I never acted with the Gen.
tleman ; on the contrary, I always avoided any com-
munication with him."
Mr. Dixosi-4. I saw it myself, and, therefore, am
sure of what I say."
Mr. WAMINIAN ---" You never did—l have ever
avoided him, without committing actual rudeness.:—
Yeti may deal in personalities of this kind, if you
please, and with. impunity, for I shall not insult the
dignity of this Court, by adopting your example, and
replying to them."
Mr. DIXON--," I shall speak and think for myself.
What I heard, I will repeat ; and what I saw, l will
declare." Cries of " Order ! sbante, no personalities,"
with loud hisses.)
The LORD MAYOR observed, that such a mode of
disapprobation —(6isrer)—could not have happened
within the bar, and, if it welt repeated without,
strangers must be instantly excluded.
Mr. Dixon remarked, that the hissing was, he
thought within, not without the hers where he was
glad to see such a concourse of strangers, who ap-
peered to conduct themselves with great decurum....-.
But quitting this frivolous interruption' and going, to
the main question, he would say, that the present dis.
tresses, so tar from originating in one question, sprung
from many. The employment cf the numbers in the
army and navy, which suddenly subsided at the
peace, was one great cause of the present distress.—
Another, and though he highly valued ingenuity, he
could not but observe upon it, was, the great increase
of machinery. Tliii also threw a great number of
people out of employment. Until ot late years, for
thirty miles round the manufacturigg towtts of Eng.
land, the spindle in every cottage employed its hands,
the threshing in every farm house gave its.ratio of
labour, and so in other cases where machinery now
supplanted the necessity of manual labour. Then we
had the trade of the world, now we had improve-
ments, which some might valite more than he did ;
such as going up by steam to Richmond, or down to
Margate. (4 laugh.) But. looking at the made of
relief proposed, what was it but an invasion of the
rightsot others—for how could the privileges of Par.
liamentary Representation in the Borough System,
*as it was called, be taken from the possess,rs,. with.
out any fault or crime on their part, any mare than
any other, right that belonged to the lowest in the
community ? (Hear, hear.) It was strange, how.
ever, that those who wanted to abolish this right in
Sao, were inclined to avail themselves of it for their
own purposes, and Alderman Smith had nauted an
individual then in his (Mr. Dixon's)
.eye, w4O .was