Star.
London, England, 1819-11-13 00:00:00

The possession of the town by such men would
be worse than a military occupation. An army was
obliged to observe -discipline, and to observe order;
it had Commissaries to procure provisions, and Quar-
terma,ters to distribute conveniently its numbers; but
would such an assembly of needy and discontented
adventuters observe any o. der, or obey any superior?
If they were hungry, would they not break in to eat ?
If thirsty, would they not rob to drink? If they
wanted lodging, would they not invade the dwellings
of the terrified inhabitants? This was no chimera
that he was describing ; similar transactions had hap-
pened in the history of our country. About 200 years
ago, bodies of men marched to overawe the Legisla-
ture; and what said the great historian (Lord Cla-
rendon) of those times? He said, that when the,
6,000 Buckinghamshire men proceeded to London to
overawe the Legislature, the Revolution was begun.,
The evil of such tumultuary assemblies was gene-
rally acknowledged, and, accordingly, at the Resto-
ration a law was made to prevent their recurrence.
(I he Rev. Gentleman here read the preamble to the
Act of Charles 11. which limited the number of signa-
tures to Petitions, for the purpose of chewing that that
Ac:: was founded on a sense of the evils of tumultuary
petitioning.) This Act had been said to be abrogated
by the Bill of Rights ; but Lord Mansfield had ex-
pressed a diirerent opinion on the trial of Lord George
Gordon. The Rev. Gentleman having concluded,
Mr. LOCKHART said, the Address ought to he first
put to the vote, before the proposed Declaration
could be considered. The Rev. 'Air. Timm As assented.

The Rev. Mr. HINTON professed his entire concur-
rence in the Address. He had always attended im-
portant Coiaty Meetings like the present, and found
to his satisfaction, that he could always agree with
those whom he was bound to esteem; and to dissent
from those he could not esteem, gave him no anxiety.
On the present occasion, he was happy to give the
Address his unqualified support. He would never
renounce the maxims, " rear GOD and honour the
King," and " Follow not them who are given to
change." His attachment to the King and Constitu-
tion was only strengthened by the attempts made to
weaker, it. He had long taught those under his mi-
nistry to revere Hoe who had been reviled and blas-
pheme by a monster in humen form. If all did their
duty in hiculcating those principles, there would be less
r.ecessity for a repeti-eon of Meetings like the present.
lie had always avoided political contests, and if he
had had the idea that politics would be introduced
into that Meeting, he would not have attended ; but
when the great interests of his country were en-
de.agered, he chernfully came forward to give them
all the support in his power. He, therefore, could
not refuse his name to the Requisition, and he would
tell the reason. The Requisition only pledged those
who sleeted it to a declatatiou of loyalty and attach-
ment to the Prince Resent, and the Constitution :
and who v ould rot declare such sentiments ? " If
tietre is any one Avho iioes not entertain them," said
the Rev. Gentleman, " I wish he were in any other
Kingdom than this"—(Greet applause). Let him go
hence, and carry his disaffection along with him.—
here was, indeed, a time when loyalty to the King,
and attachment to the Constitution, did not go to-
gether ; but that was not since the accession of the
present Family, and he hoped it would not return. It
was imi °seder to respect the laws, without reverencing
the author ity under a hid) the) aet e administered.—
Hitherto the People had only heard the enemies of
the Constitution, let them now hear its friends—
'Here the Reverend Gentleman launched into a pane-
gyric on the Constitution, en the strict admitestra-
tion of the law, and on the exercise of the legal func-
tions. He had often attended in this Hall, when used
:v., a Court of Justice. Though the Monarch then
pronounced, the law decided. 'From this place it was
declared that Justice should not be sold—that Justice
will he delayed to no man : and here it was likewise
declared, as in the Bill of Rights, that the end of
Kingly government is for the good of the People.—
Our Constitution was too just to admit despotism, and
too good to allow anarchy. He should be a monster
indeed, if he did not love and admire it. Adverting to
the subject of blasphemous publications, he painted
in dark colours, and with pointed indignation, the
eg'orts of Paine and his followers to destroy the
leeligion of the Country. He never saw that mis-
creant's works in Oxfordshire, and he spoke not for
the County, but for the Country, ellen lie expressed
-is opinion of the mischief they had produced.—
I!: had been lately at the mouth of the den (Carlile's
shop), in London, and had seen bales of blasphemy,
that degraded the mind, and prepared it for the worst
crimes, sent off to some part of the country. Seeing
all this, he would support the Address. lle was no
flitlll/Per in this, and he was not prepared to go far-
them. He would enter into no other question ;he
would give no opinion on the political topics of the
day, and he wished to Gon there had been no opinion
elelivered of them from any quarter whatever.
The Address was then put by the High Sheriff,
-and carried almost unanimously, there being but one
hand held up against it.
The Rev. Mr. THOMAS then, adverting to his for-
mer speech, read the Declaration to which he then
alluded, and moved that it be adopted. •
Mr. G. F. Sraarrow thought the Address which
had been carried would answer every purpose ; but
in the present circumstances of the times, he would
support it if it was pressed ; nay, he would sign
twenty Addresses and Declarations to the same effect,
it proposed.
Mr. LOCKH ART begged to suggest to the Reverend
Gentleman, the great necessity of the strictest una-
nimity on the present occasion. It must be evident
to him (the Rev. Mr. Thomas) that every topic ought
to be avoided which might in any degree destroy the
harmony of feeling already existing. To many of
the topics embraced in the Declaration, there could
be no objection in the minds of any who supported
the Address.; but there were others, upon which the
...Ante unity of sentiment might not appear. He
would, for instance, mention the allusion respect-
ing the Press. That, he conceived, was already
touched upon in the Address, which condemned all
seditious and blasphemous publications. It might,
perhaps, be thought necessary to express distinctly
the disapproval of the wicked and seditious pub-
lications of the day ; to that he could have no
objection ; but it might perhaps be as well nut
to do so in a way which would imply more than
every Gentleman of the Meeting could assent to.
The Press of the country ought not, in his mind,