Star.
London, England, 1810-08-01 00:00:00

him were directed to no other object tut to the ca.
lumniating of all the great characters of every party.
Let those who said so descend to particulars, and
point out the characters to whom they alluded, and
then he should be ready to rheet and answer the
charge. He believed there were honourable men in
the country, who adhered to party from being ham-
pered in its trammels, or from being slaves to a false
notion of honour. Such men he had never declared
to be unworthy of confidence, however much he
might regret that they were thus deprived of the
means of affording effectual benefit to the country. If
however the persons alluded to were of that class,
who quarrelled with their opponents only because
there were others who prevented them from enjoy-
ing the enioluments of place or office, he must de-
clare himself not indeed to be of that party.—
Such men, he conceived, to be the most likely to
bring the country into peril, and to lead it on in the
high road to destruction. There was a report of a
speech, to which he must allude, said to have been
delivered by a person of considerable authority, one
whom he should have called the Leader of one of the
existing parties or factions, had he not recollected that
it only once was a party, but had now fallen into and
been swallowed up by another, with which it had con-
nected itself. This Noble person he could not corn.
pare to Cerberus, as he was not aware that he had ever
shewn that he had three heads ; but he surely must be
allowed to be a sort of Bifrons, having proved himself,
at least, to have been of two sentiments on the im-
portant subject on which they were so solicitous, and
to have viewed it, at least, with two different aspects
at different periods. He alluded to a speech pub-
lished as having been delivered by Lord Grey, in die
House of Lords, on an occasion when he called the
attention of the Public to the State of the Nation.—
He did not esteem himself entitled to declare that he
considered this Report to be in every respect the speech
of Lord Grey. He should conceive that he was not
entitled to assume that as to any man, who did not
sanction the publication by the authority of his own
name. But, certainly, it must be taken as contain-
ing the general propositions laid down by his Lord.
ship, or the sentiments expressed in it ought to be
disavowed by him. There was in this speech a vast
deal of specious generality, containing most pernicious
doctrine. Of this kind was his reasoning on the sub-
ject of Reform, a doctrine for which the Noble Earl
had formerly been an advocate. A vast deal was
said as to a number of mischievous and misguided men,
alluding, as was plainly to be collected from the whole
tenor of the Noble Earl's speech, to him (Sir Francis
Burdett) and those who thought with him, who, it
was said, were desirous of subverting the Constitu-
tion. Who would venture seriously to assert that
there could be a man of that description in this coun-
try ? Surely such could not be found amongst those
with whom he (Sir Francis Burdett) associated ; be-
cause, if they were mischievous, or even misled men,
they were so by following the law, and by recommen-
ding it as the rule of proceeding in all cases, portico-
lady in all cases of public interest ; and he who would
pretend to be wiser than the law would shew himself
to be neither wise nor prudent. It was not his inten-
tion to go through this long and elaborate, but futile
speech, and point out the numberless fallacies which it
contained. Some circumstances, however, it would
be necessary for him to touch on, in order to counter-
act some mischief which it might create in the minds
of the people, who did not take leisure sufficiently to
examine it. First, he begged to allude to the fallacy
of the doctrine laid down by Gentlemen of both par-
ties, and again contended for in this speech, as to
the supreme power of Parliament. That there was
such a power no person denied. But was the privi-
lege now contended for to be sheltered under the
pretext of the power of Parliament ? No !—What
they contended for was against the right of the
House of Commons to assume to themselves the
exercise of
.that power. The report of the speech in
question, assumes, that the supreme power must be
somewhere. He (Sir Francis Burdett) on the contrary
contended that k should be no where; and for this
reason, that ours was a Government of checks, by
which the one branch was made to balance and keep
within bounds the other. When it ceased to be so,
then would it run to anarchy ; and, for the attempt
to bring it to this crisis at present, ought that charge
which the favourers of this system now imputed to
him (Sir F. Burdett) and his friends, to be imputed
to them. The supreme power is in the people, from
whom all power flows, and for whose benefit it ought
only to be used. We had not far to go to learn that
this was the fact; we would find it in Magna Chart*,
and the Act of Settlement. The supreme executive
power was entrusted to the King, not to the House
of Commons, Nor is even the King in the exercise
of his executive power, entitled to do any of those
acts latterly usurped by the House of Commons.—
There was another species of power usurped by
the Borough-monger faction, which, like buildings
of castles of cards, were usurpations on the power
of the King and of the People. The House of
Commons and this usurping faction of Borough.
mongers would hold up the King as if his power
were to be dreaded, while they themselves would
arrogate a power which the King would not think
of claiming. Whatever the House might choose
to assert, or short-sighted Ministers might join with
them in representing as the privileges of that House,
the existence of such a power in a House of Com-
mons, so constituted, would be more to be dreaded
than that it should exist, which it did not, and was not
even claimed to do, in the person of the King. It was
the duty of the people, therefore, to assist the King in
opposing such a power. The more that the King was
protected against such an assumption of power, the
better it would be for the Constitution and the People.
The Honourable Baronet then proceeded to comment
on the inconsistencies that had marked the conduct
of those who had been formerly so loud in the cause
of reform, and who were now so violent against the
men who had the homesty to persevere in their pursuit
of that great object. The Noble Earl (Grey) bad
taken a leading part in the cause of reform, and when
his party came into power, what was their pretence
for evading their engagements, that the people did not
ask for reform, as if so poor a plea could acquit honest
men of the discharge of that duty in which they stood
pledged to the public ? In the private relations of life
men were not acquitted of their just and lawful
debts, merely because they were not claimed within
a limited period, and at a precise time. Lord Grey
and his party had made that pledge, and they were
bound to redeem it ; but it seemed that when the

People dick hit Lome forward to riefnand, it, it of.
coarse felt to the ground; or if they did hi justice to
themselves require it, then was it popular clattiour,
so that if the people waited in silent expectation for
the fulfilment of that engagement to which they had
given credit, then was it to be overlooked, because
it was not openly demanded ; and if openly demand-
ed, then was it to be scouted as the mere effect of
wild popular clamour.—(,/f,—Another fal-
lacy was, that supreme power must be lodged some.
where this he denied ; the British Constitution was
made up of what counteracted the existence of a su-
preme power in any of its constituent parts. It was
till of salutary restraints and controuls ; a great power
was lodged in the King, as the executive branch of the
' State, but that power was limite'l by the law, and it
emanated from the people. They are the real ene-
mies of the Crown who would rest it upon any foun-
dation less broad, less steady than the people ; from
them of right all power must flow, and to their good
the right use of power must ultimately tend. It was
matter of some consolation, and fertile with the best
grounded hopes, that notwithstanding all the en-
croachments on popular rights which have this some
time back been but too successfully attempted, that
still the people had within themselves one source
of power, which might be found invincible in their
defence—he meant the Trial by Jury—but if that
great source of Constitutional Justice was not pre-
served pure ; if that too should become so poison-
; ed as that the form only could be preserved after
its virtue became extinct, then he had no hesitation
to say, that even the boasted Trial by Jury might
become a great national evil ; and in no short time,
I the grand masked grievance of the country. And
i here he would ask, in his observations upon this to-
pic, could he possibly pass over these worse than Star
Chamber sentences which have been visited upon the
Ihonest, though inadvertent and hasty effusions of the
pen, whereby the writer with the purest intentions has
ben hurried into a warmth of expression that even in
1 its error proved its honesty. (AN:lamer.) A practice
had of late crept into certain Courts respecting the ap-
pointment of Special Juries, wholly unknown to, and
unwarranted by, the good old laws. of the land—the
officers of the Court had the culling of Juries —they
assumed to themselves the right of nominating the list
of men from whom the Jury was to be chosen, and, to
crown all, then comes the Attorney General to inter-
pose his fiat between the right of the people and the
great constitutional barrier provided for those rights
in the inquisitorial powers of a Grand Jury. As to
what was called the law of libel, it was unknown in
former times ; there was not a single statute to be
cited in support of it, unless he should say Mr. Fox's
bill, which whatever good it was designed to do, had
certainly done the evil of countenancing by a sort of
side-wind, a law which had not had any solid consti.
tutional existence ; but with that solitary exception,
he denied all the Attorney-Generals that ever existed,
to point out a single Act of Parliament that war-
ranted the law of libel as it was now received and
construed. He more particularly adverted to the in-
ordinately rigorous case of an eminent public writer,
as eminent in purity as in talent. (Loud and long-
continued Al:plasm%) He would not arraign the deci-
sion of a Court of Justice, that decision might have
been warranted in the honest zeal of that talented wri-
ter. There might have been expressions which it would
have been more prudent to omit ; his manly and pa-
triotic indignation might have hurried him within
those legal technicalities by which Attorney-Generals
were happy to ensnare him. He, however, would not
presume to say that a Court of Justice was not a Court
of Justice ' • but this he would say, that if no English-
man could express his indignation of foreigners being
called in to flog the backs of his countrymen, then
would he affirm that Englishmen were no longer free.
(Applause: continued fir some minwtes.) Nay more,
that they deserved to be the only country in Europe
in which the people were systematically a flogged
people—the only country where the military charac-
ter was so debased, as that man was permitted, nay,
compelled to inflict upon his fellow man tortures
which no human being could inflict upon the vilest
beast.—(4/0/aines) Excessive bail was unknown to
the constitutional law of the land. But to return to
the question of Parliamentary privilege ; how was that
; to be enforced ? It was pretended to be for the people,
and the King's troops (foreigners or others) were ne-
cessary to enforce it. Mr. Ponsonby had said, in his
notorious speech, that all Kings must hate the House
of Commons, because it was a controul upon their
cower. No doubt it was meant to be such. But
where, when, in what instance had it been so exerted ?
Many, doubtless, were the instances in which it had
been exerted against the people ' • but when had it
I acted in the salutary controul of the influence of the
; Crown ? And were foreigners to be called in to aid the
operation of this abuse against the people. These fo-
: reign mercenaries had been called the guards of the
King—the King had no right tohave such guards, and
tho' he had that right, they nor no other military had
st a right to commit murder in the streets. (illtplauset.)
1 For his part, while such things were, and were tamely
acquiesced in, he could not see how it was possible
for any honest man's efforts to be attended with
success. There was, in fact, no security for the man
who was resolved at all events to discharge his duty
to his country. It might be possible that the minds
of Englishmen could be. so wrought upon, by gradual
and incessant encroachment, as to reduce them to the
least enviable condition in which intellectual beings
could be placed ; and if ever they should sink so
low, it would then become them to remember, that
slaves had but one duty, and that that solitary duty
' was obedience ; but for himself he could say, that he
doubted the joint influence of time or of necessity ever
to work such a change in his mind. He feared that
be should at all times have too much of the English-
man in him ever to submit to be a slave. (Here the
applauses were so prompt and enthusiastic, that Sir
Francis added) The feelings they had just expressed,
and the manner of that expression, were such as to give
him better hopes. If they persevered in that temper
with unfired zeal and unshaken constancy, that power
did not, could not exist which could overawe their
liberties. Altialasue.r.) But whatever be the event of
struggle between those who are undermining the
Constitution and those who would maintain it, let
every honest man take cre not to forfeit the best con-
sslation under misfortune, the consciousness of having
acted rightly. He (Sir Francis) would, throughout
his life, endeavour to make sure of that ; and what-
ever his future fate might be, if he was to fall, he
would rather fall with his falling country, than be ele-

tinted of 6r ruins. (Lid &dittos:ant *bidet )---6
The Honourable Baronet then adverted to the affair,
of Ireland. He described that country as having the
strongest claims upon the justice of England, and the
sympathy of Englistimcn--they were intrinsically a_
brave end gem rous p...oplet and they loved liberty w ith
that zeal, which none but such a people could feel—
they had borne no incrosiderable share in upholding
the British name 2nd chat acter, and they had not de-
rived those advantages from their share in the contest
to which they were so justly entitled ; but the tact
was, that the system of attack upon our Constitution
has been so uniform and so actively tallowed up as
primarily to engage our attention, and too much to
divert it from the still greater sufferings and priva.
tions of our much injured and long abused fellow-
countrymen in Ireland (loud all/dam:et) ; think nobly
of that flank penp'c, and you will only think justly of
them—their cause is our's, we have a grand com-
mon object, let us have a great and cotnovai sym-
pathy. This will be for the benefit of the two ;slat:Lis
—for depend upon it, neither will long survive the
loss of the other. (Loud altnlauses.) He would nr,•v
thank them for the honour they had conferred upon
him, and di ink all their good healths, making but
one further observation, which was to conjure them
all, however unfavourable or threatening was the as-
pect of the times, to leave no means untried to keep
alive it' each man's breast that spark of liberty, with-
out which hope was extinct, and with which no effort,
however humble, could be altogether fruitless. Sir
Francis then bowed and descended from the table,
amidst applauses that continued for several minutes.
The health of Lord Cochrzne was khalif( with the
utmost enthusiasm, and followed by the tune of Rods
Britannia, which was loudly cheered.
Upon the toast of " Gw•illim Lloyd Wardle, Esq.
the vigila it detic or of public abuses," being drank
with appropriae demonstrations cf respect and regard,
Mr. WARDLE rose to return them his sincere thanks.
He never felt greater pleasure at meeting them, than
on the present occasion, because it furnished him with
an opportunity of chewing his attachment to the Elec-
tors of Westminster, and their incomparable repre-
sentative.—After such a speech ; and such a speech
he had never heard, it would be the height of pre-
sumption in him to trespass one mlinent on their at-
tention. He rose chiefly to congratulate them on the
restoration of their representative. The gratiiication
coul•l not be confined to them ; it would be a day
of serious joy to the whole nation. His temporary
absence had shewn them with what cheerfulness he
could bear confinement in their cause; they could
not indeed ever have doubted his zeal. He recol-
lected reading once, that when a great plague raged
at Rome, the people sent a deputation to consult the
oracle as to the means of averting it. Theoracledesited
them to send an embassy into Asia-Minor for the
statue of the Goddess Cybele, and when they had
brought it to the shores of Italy, to give it to the most
virtuous man in the state to bear it to Rome. Now,
said Mr. W. if such a plague was to attack our Con.
stitution, and that we were to send into a foreign
land in search of liberty and law, (for there can be no
liberty without law) and that we were desired by an
oracle to give a statue to the most enlightened and
virtuous man in the country, to carry to the metropo.
lis,.would not the name of Bottom. resound fronts
one.end of our Island to the other ? (loud cheers.) He
had only once more to congratulate them, and to
thank them for the uniform and unmerited kindness
they had shewn to him on every occasion.
The CHAIRMAN then gave—
" Sir Samuel Romilly, anti the Reform of the Penal Code,"
witk three times three.

" Lord Erskine, and the Trial by Jary."—This was also drank
with great applause.
A patriotic song, by Mr. Liman-ran, was succeed.
ed by the following toast :
" Ireland in onr hearts, and her Persecutors In our remem-
brance," with three times three.

.
On Major Cartwright's health being given, the Ma-
jor addressed the Meeting. As it was so late in the
evening, he would not trouble them with one of his
old sermons—( 4 laugh). He had written a pamphlet
on the Rights of the People, and the Duties of Mem-
bers of Parliament. He had been afterwards laugh.
ed at by some of his friends, as if he had been writing
upon nonentities—but he had written only on the
principle of advertising the names of stolen goods
(4/0/asue. ) Many good. a wise men wished for
reform. Some of them, it w true, stickled fur mo-
derate means • but for his part (Istijor Cartwright)
never was, and never would'e, a moderate reformer.
He concluded by giving— ,
itty " Representation without rott Boroughs, Defence without
Foreigners, and Law without M Ezeeulon."—(L- id if p-
p law e. r .)
Mr. MALLET rose. He should not feel himself
' doing justice to the toast which had been entrusted to
him, if he did not take the opportunity of expressing
some of the sentiments which the occasion pressed
upon him ; but nothing could prevent him from giv-
ing praise to the nice discernment, the true sagacity,
which had induced the Electors of Westminster to his
on their present admirable and illustrious Representa-
tive. They had chosen the only man who was pecu.
Early fitted to represent them. In Sir Francis Bur.
dett's Address to them, he thought too much of their
interests to have any memory of his own situation.—
He had not done justice to himself. Mr. Mallet then
went into a review of the principles of the Opposi-
tion ; and after some censures on thei conduct, and
eloquent praises of Mr. Horne Tooke, jill y e the
" Health of Mr. Wm. Cobbett, and may Englishmen never
forget their English principles." •
The CHAIRMAN then gave—
. General Matthew‘Mr. Hutchinvn, and the Irish Members
who have done their duty to their Constituents."
Mr. Isaacs sung " The Noted Room."
The following Toasts succeeded :
_ __ .....

" May all Hous;breakers by Analogy, and their Abettors, be
brought to condign punishment."
" The Lord Mayor, Common Council, and Livery of London."
" Lord Archibald Hamilton, the Hun. Mr. Malik, Giscral
Fergusson, and the Friends of Reform in Scotland"
" The Duke of Norfolk, and may the Aristocracy mike with
him in defending the rights of the People."
Mr. FREND, after some ineffectual attempts to be
heard, gave—
" Mr. Wyvill, and the Friends of Religious Liberty."
The CHAIRNIAN gave—
,' rhe House of Commons represented, and not mii.represented."
Mr. CLIFFORD gave—
" The health of Mr. ‘Vishart, the Chairman."
Immediately after which Sir Francis Burdett, and
the greater part of his friends, withdrew.
The room continued

ed full for some time after, and
,d with every appearance of bar-
lour.