The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-04-05 00:00:00

SIR FRANCIS BURDETT.

The following is a copy of the Address which has
been presented by a Deputation from the Co centric
Society of Liverpool:—

TO ?RAMC's 11URDETT, ROT.
Sia—We, the Concentric Society of Liverpool, as-
seiubled in special meeting, beg leave to address yes
for the purpose of expressing. the sentiments awakened
in our minds, by the sentence, which bas, for the se•
rund time, consigned to imprisonineut, you Sir, onr
io
lustrions countryman, our highly honoured and be-
loved Associate.
If, in ordinary cues, incarceration is the nese-
qnence of crime, co milted, or imputed, the page of
history affords abundant evidence that crime is not the
necessary avenue to a gaol ; for, among those, ache
have suffered the severest iniictions, may be found lbt
names of many, who have been so• rewarded fir tat
in promoting the welfare, or for courage in resislitg
the oppressions of wittkied. The &modes* ef tiff
Christian religion, and the reftirmera of its corriptima
exposed themselves, by their beneficent labours, teas
violence of offended power ; and they, whose memo,
we now venerate for their patriotic exertions to
ver the lost liberties of England—exertioas wkilk
' eventually triumphed in this est Iblishment of
or
boasted Constitution---were arraigned by the reliot
authorities as public delinquents, and visited iiecit4
ingly with vengeance.
In the present day, similar castles have led to mail'
fold examples of similar injustice; affordieg a Prig.'
slant commentary on that system of misrule, whicide
defiance of repeated warning, has condected oirlW-
tional affairs, step by step, to their present meet calk
mitons condition ; and which, professing to epholt
the Constitution, has trampled on its vital primipleit •
and reduced it to a shadow and a name. .1100411
these examples Sir, we regard the two, which have beet
illustrated in your person, a, entitled to• particulat
attention, not merely on acconnt of your claims to "
public support, strong as we gratefully acknori i+4
odt
them to be, but on account of the gi winds, ou abi
the pro:eedings against you were avowedly prof'
cited.
On the first occasion, au linglishman ha•igitc,
been imprisoned, by virtue of a mere
safe
the House of Conssuons, you ably and cue''
*ltaly protested against this isestruglion of rota
'and awned, in his behalf, the *Ale priticipir
Constitution, which declares, that awe slog!' ow
insprieonesi, but by limits! jmigureet 4if hid
Oat P"''
by the a she WPC" tio echoechoofi"d".

of the House of Cummont—so entlesvouriog to ■p-

hold the Constitution against its violaters—was pro-
nounced by the " loyal" majoiity of that assembly
a high breach of its privileges:" and the impre-
scriptable right* of Englishmen were again Violated,
in order that you [nigh be committed summarily to

the Tower !
On the second occasioh, your public spirit *as
aroused by an outrage of a more frightful—of a hor-
rid character ! A meeting of the people of Maui-
rhester and the neighbourhood assembled to petition
for a reform in Parliament; and, as if to demonstrate
that the real put pose was as peaceful and unoffending,
as the avowed purpose was indisputably legal, a nu-
merous body of women and children were indiscrimi-
nately mingled in the throng. The proceedings had
-a•arecly commenced, when without the slightest warn-
in:, by the order and under the eye of magistrates—
conservators of the peace—a band of horsemen, sword
in hand, rdsheel into the midst—killing or maining
hundreds! The accounts, which reached you, of this
dreadful occurrence, naturally excited those feelings,
to %bias no human heart can he insensible, and which
every Englishman should be ashamed to disown. In
the generous spirit of those feelings you addressed a
letter to your constituents, calling upon them to meet,
" to demand justice and redress, and to afford conso-
lation to the widows and orphans, and mutilated vic-
tims of this unparalleled and barbarous outrage." In
tbb letter, which has engaged the just admiration of
our country, his Majesty's Attorney-General disco-
" a seditious libel." He c.iutionsly proceeded
against you by information es clicio--thus depriving
on of the benefit of a Gravid Jury, so peculiarly essen-
tial in all questions between the Crown and a subject ;
h• a legal artifice, you were taken from your accus-
tomed neighbourhood, before a Judge, who refused to
receive evidence of the facts, which gave rise to your

letter, and in which, therefore, its justification wail to
be sought; and you were pronounced Guilty, by a
Jury—a special Jury—not " chosen indifferently
from the body of the country," but chiefly composed
of Justices of the peace, that " select body" of whom
Slr William Blackstone observes, that being " generally
scleeted by the Prince, or such as enjoy the highest
s.tksea in the state, their decisions, in spite of their
wen natural integrity, will have frequently an invo-
l.tatary bias ;" and, the Cold having overruled a motion
fir a losai trial, founded on a defect of evidence. Which
one oi the Judges acknowledged as an adequate res-
t... tor granting it, in consequence of the serilict of
t..ss Jul, you are now suffering in the semblance if
no in the spirit of the law !
We have been told, by a high authority, that " next
to swing right, the fir.st great object in the adminis-
tration of public justice, is to give public satisfac-
fam;" but Sir, it would be difficult to point out, at
si hat stage of this anomalous proceeding the public
satisfaction may repose. Nor can other circum-
stances, which have attended the outrage, in which it
orit;inatcd, he contemplated with a more favourable
eve. Vie vigour of the law has been directed, not
against the inhuman authors and abettors, but against
ti-ot intended victims ; and, wbik these are suffering
the monstrous severity of discretionary punishment,
for an offence, of which (if an offence it really be)
they obviously were uuccosscious, thee* have nee
been subjected to the slightest question. Even the
ordinary inquest before the Coroner was interrupted,
s.laveil, and ultimately quashed ere a verdict could be
re. wiled ; and the powers of the Magistracy, extended
as they have been by subsequent encroachments on
our liberties, are still entrusted to the very men, who
so wantonly and cruelly abused them ! Sir, the public
neither can nor ought to be satisfied, with an admi-
t:titration of justice, which thus fails to enforce the
responsibility or offset; which seems to regard the
slaughter of the people as no crime; and, which has
involved in uncert .its penalties, those, who peaceably
asputhled to petition the legislature, and him, who
nobly demanded, in behalf of the injured, a legal
remedy fur unparalleled wrong!
Yet these are probably the natural results of that
masdern doctrine of our Courts " the greater the truth,
the greater the libel." Vitriol( the reign of a system,
solder which "no honest man can be a Minister,"
what evils may not ensue, when truth is thus brow-
beaten by authority? We trust however, Sir, that the
time is fast approaching, when the great object of
your hte Milli he accomplished; and when the people,
!wing represented, no Moister will dare to be dis-
honest. When this period arrives, the law may resume
iis essential attribute—Ali:Nrm:v.l.r ; " it will give
waning 11:.fore it strikes." Its venerable organs may
a.:ain declare, that " the public benefit is the supreme
rail of its institution ;" the truth, which integrity of
iidention can never fear, will receive protection from
their decisions ; and gond men will no longer be
tbiought into jeopardy fur such acts as are censurable
bi no moral code, as entitle them to the respect and
csitittule of their Country!
lleaelime Sir, while we deeply regret the restraint
anti inconvenience to which you are for a term to be
albiertz I, we 3ltottki lye wanting to ourselves and to
tihe PVC case were. Ive to withhold the tribute of
ihlt admiration of the benevolent promptitude, with
which you commenced, and of the constancy with
tilsich, in tile face of persecution, you persevere in
Tsar endeavours, to bring to justice the cowardly
Perpetrators of that blond-stained tragedy, by which
the kistiry of the present period is disgraced!
Soy can we onsit to acknowledge the high sense we
entertain of the genuine patriotism and manly deport-
ment, by which your long and eventful public life has
been uniformly distinguished. Whenever duty leas
X4ilell YOU into contest with power, you have bravely
eucouutered the danger; whenever difficulties have
1."4" is your way you have triumphed in the midst of
"Sicehies. You have been assailed by the evil rieett
.of jealousy, of fraud and malignity; but, muiliW
in the }sward satisfaction of a pure consclestes Teel
has sever condescended to seek the sileaco ot rule
ralatuaiators by appealing to their feu of petudiy.l
Yet whe enjoys so decided a praeroloeste lo dlo
esteem and affection of the !people? To this entity
Sir, we entreat an answer from your prosecutors; aid
1.1 them tell us the effects of an opposite coarse t bM
them recount the successes of their es-41eio *mad"
how men have learned to worship a virtual reform.'
tetiee--40 pray for the continuance of mereilees
Actium and of wasteful expenditure: sod low deg
410 W reeeteeee the fomenters of plots, the egiNiells.
Ai PerieeT, the aecompliees of spies. sad the pirate
of the sabre!
For *anchor Sir, we sum ee um simpler views of

^

THE STAT;

honesty and truth; and, if we convey to the tenant of
a prison the expression of our sympathy and respect,
it is i■ the conviction that we but accord in those see-
timents which the faithful historian of his actions
will inspire iu the bearts of a grateful and admiring
posterity.
Signed by order, and in behalf of the Society by ,
ERTON 8141111, Chairmen.
Liverpool, March 10, MI.

PRICE OF STOCKS TH
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